South Africa's National Zoo Frees Last Elephant
The last remaining elephant at South Africa's national zoo has been freed after 40 years in captivity.
Charley the African elephant was captured in 1984 from Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park at the age of 2, before being sent to a circus in South Africa, where he was trained to perform.
In 2001, Charley was transferred to the National Zoological Garden in Pretoria, also known as Pretoria Zoo, where he has lived for the last 23 years.
But now, at the age of 42, Charley is starting a new chapter of his life at the 120-square-kilometer Shambala Private Game Reserve in South Africa's northeast.
The decision to free Charley came after years of concerns from animal welfare groups over the elephant's health, especially after the 2020 death of the only other elephant he shared his enclosure with.
From then, Charley was the only elephant at Pretoria Zoo.
But at the Shambala Private Game Reserve, Charley will be introduced to a whole herd of elephants while being monitored by veterinary experts.
In a statement, the EMS Foundation, one of the groups that worked to get Charley released, said it hoped Charley would now be able to "learn to be the elephant he was always meant to be."
The EMS Foundation says scientific data shows there is no elephant enclosure in the world that meets an elephant's needs. And while African elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild, studies show that in captivity they live much shorter lives.
While the elephant enclosure at Pretoria Zoo is now permanently closed, several elephants still live at the Johannesburg Zoo. The EMS Foundation is working to get them released as well.
