PREN STATEMENT
A legal battle is currently before the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and will be heard on the 19, 20 and 21 May 2026. The applicants are seeking to have Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane, three African Elephants, freed from the Johannesburg Zoo.
Elephant Specialists Appeal for the Release of Lammie 2019
On the 29 January 2019, thirteen globally renowned Elephant specialists, namely: Dr Joyce Poole, Professor Phyllis Lee, Dr Cynthia Moss, Dr Lucy Bates, Dr Keith Lindsay, Dr Victoria Fishlock, Dr Marion Garai, Dr Yolanda Pretorius, Dr Kate Evans, Dr Antoinette van der Water, Dr Audrey Delsink, Dr Michelle Henley an, Brett Mitchell, wrote a letter to the Johannesburg zoo administrators expressing their support for the release of Elephant Lammie from the zoo.
Johannesburg Zoo Ignores Appeal for the Release of Lammie and Purchases Additional Elephants Ramadiba and Mopane
In January 2019 the National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) resigned from the Johannesburg Zoo’s Animal Ethics Committee. The NSPCA publicly expressed their concern when the zoo purchased two Elephants from a wildlife reserve in the Eastern Cape where they were utilised in the captive elephant industry. On the 4 June 2019 Humane World International issued a press release questioning why the zoo had refused to heed the advice of some of the world’s most respected Elephant experts.
A Groundbreaking Legal Application Launched to Free Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane from the Johannesburg Zoo in 2022
On Monday 20th June 2022, an application to the High Court of South Africa in the Gauteng Division, Pretoria, was launched by Pro Elephant Network (PREN) members, Animal Law Reform South Africa, the EMS Foundation and Chief Stephen Fritz represented by environmental law firm, Cullinan and Associates.
After failing at negotiations legal remedy is being sought to have these Elephants released and to have them live out the remainder of their lives in a natural environment and where the conditions are commensurate with the innate needs and nature of Elephants.
The comprehensive legal application is supported by expert Affidavits from Elephant specialists Dr Joyce Poole, Dr Keith Lindsay, Dr Lucy Bates, Suparna Baksi Ganguly, Dr Betsy Coville and Adrian Harland who have overwhelming agreed with a Welfare Report compiled by experts Dr Marion Garai and Brett Mitchell, who observed the three Elephants from August 2019 to March 2020.
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