Last of the captive elephants?
With the death of Kinkel, Johannesburg Zoo must decide whether to replace him and provide companionship for lonely Lammie, despite critics’ objections, writes Sheree Bega
ALICE Masombuka smiles knowingly as the elephant pushes her wet trunk through the steel palisade fence for another requisite handshake.
“With Lammie, when you come here, it’s her policy that you must greet her first,” explains the Johannesburg Zoo’s pachyderm keeper.
As Masombuka walks off for a moment, Lammie’s watery eyes follow her every move. “Hey girlie. I’m here my love,” she says gently, returning to soothe the 39-year-old elephant.
It’s been a rough few days for Lammie and her team of carers. The death of her only companion, Kinkel, a bull, early last week, came unexpectedly.
“It was heart-wrenching to see Lammie last week after Kinkel’s death. She was dragging her trunk on the floor. You could see on her face how sad she was… She refused to eat.
“She is taking it very hard and is frustrated. She doesn’t know where he’s gone. Our worry is her loneliness We are all in disbelief. It’s painful.”
Though friends for 18 years, the pair were not “the best couple – they tolerated each other but KK (Kinkel) was aggressive and bossy”.
Masombuka casts a worried eye at Lammie, who is now limping on her right leg from trying to lift up Kinkel in his final hours.
“KK was down the whole of Monday. We tried to lift him up. Lammie was our last option – she also tried, but she couldn’t.”
Kinkel’s death has reignited discussion on keeping socially complex animals like elephants in captivity – the zoo has drawn both sympathy and condemnation.
“Some people have been attacking the zoo on social media, saying there shouldn’t be elephants here. But so many members of the public have told us how much they love these elephants and how they have touched their lives,” offers Masombuka.
Martie Rossouw, the NSPCA’S wildlife protection unit manager, hopes “morality” will prevail and with Kinkel’s death elephants will be phased out of zoos and captive facilities.
“Everything is unnatural about the way these elephants are kept, the food they are fed, the social structure.” Her colleague, wildlife rehabilitation specialist Karen Trendler of the wildlife trade and trafficking unit at the NSPCA, agrees.
“I don’t think there’s a place for elephants in zoos… They are so big and they have such an extensive home range. They are incredibly sophisticated in terms of their communication and their social structure and there’s no way you can possibly provide for an elephant in a captive zoo situation,” Trendler says.
Dr Joyce Poole, who has studied the social behaviour and communication of elephants for over 40 years, knows they don’t thrive in captivity – particularly in traditional zoo environments.
“Elephants need to move to stay healthy. In the wild they are active in mind and body all day long – searching for food, companions and mates, engaging with family and friends,” says Poole, a National Geographic explorer and co-founder of Elephantvoices.
“They contemplate and make decisions, have autonomy over their own lives. In captivity all their normal activities are diminished to cement, bars and piles of hay – nowhere to go, nothing to do.
“In such an environment an intelligent, social animal like an elephant becomes bored and depressed. Now with Kinkel gone, the remaining elephant will be extremely lonely.”
Poole believes it’s time for South Africa to close down elephant exhibits and circuses and “offer the remaining captive elephants sanctuary”.
Lammie will stay put, says Masombuka. “She was born here, she only knows the zoo. Taking her and putting her in a sanctuary will be something else and leaving her on her own is not fair. We must think of her well-being.”
The Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo says it’s monitoring Lammie’s behaviour and providing enrichment items for her.
“If she is coping with the situation after our interventions, another cow will be introduced as elephants are social animals.”
The post-mortem for Kinkel, who suffered from colic, was inconclusive and the results of samples are awaited to determine the elephant’s cause of death.
Dr Marion Garai of the Elephant Reintegration Trust says there are very few zoos worldwide that have the facilities to keep an elephant family unit in an adequate enclosure.
“I understand that some zoos in cities overseas with very little wildlife may have an educational role to play, and sometimes this is the only possibility for children to learn about these animals. But the elephants must be kept in an enclosure that allows for all natural behaviour, including social interactions and caring for their young. Anything less than an entire family including bulls should not be allowed in captivity.”
In South Africa, where elephants roam on many private and state reserves, keeping elephants in a zoo is “meaningless”, she believes.
“People are exposed to unnatural behaviour and unnatural social conditions, and learn absolutely nothing about the elephant, a majestic being.”
Elephants in zoos have shorter lifespans, reproduce with difficulty, if at all, and are prone to health problems of their feet and other ailments.
“The psychological impact of not being in a natural family is huge, as elephants have evolved to care for their young and each other, and be in a social unit.
“Taking this away from them is depriving them of the essence of what elephants are.”
It’s a complicated issue, says Trendler. “If you have someone in jail for a life sentence and 30 years later, you let them out of jail, there are such major implications with all the stress and adaptation.
“Lammie is not a youngster. She only knows the zoo. There are a limited number of captive elephants in South Africa – no more can come in captivity and no more can be imported, so any elephant who joins her will be an elephant that is already captive with its own issues.
“One wonders where it is being held if this (the zoo) is a better deal… One just has to weigh up very carefully the stress and risks, and do a very careful introduction.
“This is a global issue and South Africa is partially responsible. We sent elephants from culls to zoos all over the world and there are zoos all over dealing with this years later, having a single elephant, or elephants that are not coping.”
Rossouw notes that while there have been some successes with captive elephants being moved to sanctuaries or reserves, there have also been “some disasters, and the elephant and the circumstances would need to be very carefully considered.
“A genuine elephant sanctuary where the elephants are not worked, have no training, would be an option, but I don’t think there is anything like that currently in South Africa.
“Many are called sanctuaries, but elephants at these sanctuaries are working elephants. Making changes to Lammie’s enclosure would be conducive to improving her welfare and well-being.
“Elephants remain crowd-pullers, says Masombuka. “I can’t imagine Joburg Zoo without elephants – the children are always so excited to see them, chanting ‘elephant, elephant’ when around them.”
She is hopeful Lammie will heal. “There’s a little bit of life. Today we played with the ball and she had a mud bath for the first time. It looks like she is coming to terms with KK’S death. She has a beautiful soul.”