00:01Behind the fences of Johannesburg Zoo, three elephants are at the center of a growing legal
00:07battle. Animal welfare campaigners say captivity is no place for them and are asking the courts
00:14to order their transfer to a rewilding sanctuary. We just believe that elephants can never be
00:24satisfactorily catered for in an enclosure in a zoo anywhere in the world. They just need a vast
00:31amount of space in order to remain healthy and fit and no enclosure anywhere in the world is able
00:38to offer that to an elephant. Backed by international elephant experts, campaigners say the three
00:43elephants are showing signs of distress and depression, accusing Johannesburg authorities
00:49of failing to act despite repeated concerns. So currently there's an application in the
00:54highlighting North High Court for the release of the elephants. It's not something that we ever
00:59wanted to do. We tried to negotiate for the freedom of the elephants by discussing it with the zoo and
01:06also with the city of Johannesburg but they were not interested. So there are three applicants. There
01:12is ourselves, the EMS Foundation, Animal Law Reform South Africa and Chief Stephen Fritz are the three
01:19applicants who have asked the city of Johannesburg and the Johannesburg Zoo to release the elephants into a
01:26more natural area. Johannesburg authorities say the trio are well cared for and have recently been given a
01:34clean bill of health at the facility but campaigners insist there are better alternatives.
01:41So the EMS Foundation built a rehabilitation center for the elephant from the National Zoological Gardens
01:49whose name was Charlie. He's now been renamed Duma. This facility will be able to accommodate the three
01:56elephants from the Johannesburg Zoo very comfortably and it will give them an opportunity to slowly
02:02acclimatize to a more natural life. Campaigners point to a previous victory when a 42-year-old elephant was moved
02:09from Pretoria's National Zoo to a private reserve in 2024, saying it proves a better future is possible.
