Pretoria Zoo's Charlie will learn to be an elephant again in his old age

Charlie the elephant. who has been living in captivity in a circus and a zoo since he was about two, needs to relearn how to be an elephant in more natural surroundings.

EMS Foundation, a non-profit and public benefit organisation based in South Africa, whose mission is to advance and protect the rights and general welfare of children, wild animals and other vulnerable groups, has offered Charlie an opportunity of retirement in a natural wild space where he will be offered protection for the rest of his natural life. 

Megan Carr, a senior researcher and lead elephant projects for the EMS foundation said experts have recommended that Charlie leaves the zoo.

“We have established a place for him and the experts will continue to look after him. He will need a lot of rehabilitation because he has been for so many years that he needs to relearn how to be an elephant in more natural surroundings. But that could take years,” she said.

Carr said the foundation and the Pro Elephant Network have been in discussions with minister of forestry, fisheries and environmental affairs Barbara Creecy about Charlie's future since 2021.

She said to make the correct decision about where Charlie should retire, the  foundation and the Pro Elephant Network offered Creecy the opportunity to have Charlie examined by a team of zoo elephant veterinary experts fromAustria and Germany. 

“These experts included Dr Amir Khalil, Dr Marina Ivanova, Dr Frank Goeritz and Prof Thomas Hildebrandt, who all visited Charlie this year,” she said.

She said the detailed reports pertaining to the assessments and recommendations of the eight elephant experts were delivered to Creecy last Monday.

Carr said they are waiting for the minister to go through the report and make a decision.

The EMS Foundation and members of the Pro Elephant Network first wrote a letter of concern to Creecy in December 2020 after the death of a female elephant called Landa.  

“After the untimely death of Landa, Charlie was the only elephant in the zoo. Everyone was very concerned about his health and safety because it is not good to have a solitary elephant in a zoo,” said Carr.

She said when the minister did not immediately respond to the letter, the foundation and Ban Animal Trading SA started a petition to free Charlie from Pretoria Zoo.

The petition has 42,000 loyal followers. 

“In March 2021 minister Creecy started discussions about Charlie with the EMS Foundation and with PREN and by 2022 she granted permission for four world-renowned elephant behavioural experts to assess Charlie. These experts are Dr Marion Garai, Dr Joyce Poole, Dr Keith Lindsay and Dr Toni Frohoff. After the data collection was completed for the behavioural specialists at the Pretoria Zoo, Creecy and SANBI announced their wish to retire Charlie in July 2022,” she said.

Carr said in a natural wild space Charlie would be able to reintegrate into a protected wild area at his own pace. 

“Charlie will receive the opportunity of expert support and care. This offer will arrive at no cost to the South African government, no cost to the South African Biodiversity Institute or the Pretoria Zoo and, most importantly, no cost to the South African taxpayer,” she said.

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