Report highlighting ongoing issue of elephants being kept in solitude

The Born Free Foundation (BFF) has released a report, “Innocent Prisoner”, revealing the ongoing suffering of solitary elephants kept in captivity in European zoos and circuses.

The report marks the 30th anniversary of the death of the last African elephant at London Zoo, a tragedy that led to the founding of Born Free, which was originally known as Zoo Check.

Teenage African elephant, Pole Pole, died after being kept in solitude for 15 years at London Zoo, having been captured from the wild in Kenya, aged two.

Original founder, Virginia McKenna OBE, is still actively involved in the work of the Foundation, and recently visited Twiggy, an elephant being kept in solitude at Belgrade Zoo in Serbia.

Ms McKenna commented: “I honestly thought that the days of keeping intelligent, social, family oriented species like elephants in solitary confinement were long gone. That no more elephants would suffer what Pole Pole had to endure. How wrong I was. It was heart-breaking, reaching out to Twiggy as I had done to Pole Pole all those years ago and realising that for her, the nightmare was still a reality.”

Will Travers OBE, CEO of the Born Free Foundation has said that they hope to see the phasing out of elephants being kept in captivity in Europe over the next 30 years, and more specifically, that the keeping of elephants alone cannot happen again.

Chris Draper, Born Free’s senior programmes manager for captive wild animals/science added: “With the best will in the world, zoos and circuses cannot replicate the social and physical environment that elephants have evolved to live in.”

Born Free is calling for the establishment of the first genuine elephant sanctuary in Europe that would house all the elephants currently being kept alone. Key criteria would include opportunities for social contact with other elephants and campaigning for an end to imports of elephants from the wild.

To read the Innocent Prisoner report, visit the Born Free website.

Image courtesy of Born Free Foundation