The last elephant in the South African zoo was released after 40 years

The last elephant in South Africa’s national zoo has been released back into the wild after 40 years in captivity.

The elephant, named Charlie, was captured in 1984 from Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park when he was two years old.

He was taken to the Boswell Wilkie Circus in South Africa and trained to perform tricks. In the early 2000s he was transferred to the country’s national zoo.

In recent years, animal welfare groups have pushed for the elephant’s release out of concern for its health.

On Tuesday, the EMS Foundation, which advocates for wildlife rights, announced that after “a grueling four-hour journey to freedom” the elephant had arrived at its new home in the Shambala Private Reserve in the province of Limpopo.

It said the “historic event” followed years of negotiations with the South African government, after the EMS Foundation and its partners provided scientific evidence to show that elephants were suffering in zoos.

At the zoo, Charlie the elephant is said to have witnessed the deaths of four other elephants, including his own calf that was less than a month old.

In 2019, concerns were raised that the elephant was showing signs of distress common to animals in captivity.

The South African National Biodiversity Institute, which runs the zoo, denied this, saying it was behavior learned from years of circus life that was never fully unlearned. The EMS Foundation says this is “inaccurate”.

On Tuesday, animal welfare organization Four Paws, which has partnered with the EMS Foundation, said “the retirement of the elephant is an important milestone for Charlie the elephant but also for better animal welfare in South Africa”.

“Together with our partners, we are working tirelessly to end Charlie’s loneliness to see him thrive in his new species-appropriate home,” said Josef Pfabigan, chief executive of Four Paws.

The new elephant home is a 10,000-hectare reserve with a thriving elephant population, known for successfully reintegrating the animals back into the wild.

While there, Charlie will be closely monitored by veterinary and behavioral experts.

“Our dream is that at his own pace, Charlie will learn to become the elephant he was always meant to be, and soon, he will be reunited with and integrated into the existing community of elephants at Shambala,” the EMS Foundation said.

Dr Amir Khalil, a vet who led the elephant transplant, told the BBC that despite the residual effects of abuse in captivity, “there is always a chance for recovery”.

With concerns about how Charlie would cope with the new environment, she said there were already positive signs of settlement and Charlie was “excited to hear the other elephants from afar”, with which he started talking.

Dr Khalil said it will take time to prepare the elephant to be self-sufficient, but “we must not forget that Charlie was born in the wild. He spent almost two years with his mother living in freedom”.

He said the elephant was under a rehabilitation and feeding program, and they planned to release him in a larger area in the coming months.

“We are convinced, that step by step he will get used to all these new experiences.”

EMS Foundation director Michele Pickover told AFP news agency there were also three elephants at the Johannesburg Zoo.

“We are litigating against Johannesburg about that,” he said.

South Africa has more than 25,000 wild elephants, according to South African parks authority SANparks.

African elephants face threats from poachers, with thousands of them being illegally killed each year for their tusks. They also face habitat loss due to the expansion of human settlements.

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