Joburg Zoo takes legal action over ‘lies’ that they make elephants do tricks

Managing director of Joburg City Parks and Zoo Bryne Maduka has said that the Joburg Zoo has resorted to legal recourse against the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) and Ban Animal Trading (BAT) in order to protect the reputation of the zoo, reports the Rosebank Killarney Gazette.

Maduka described the actions as “blatant and deliberate attempts by BAT and the NSPCA to distort the facts of the proceedings of World Elephant Day”.

Maduka said the day was hosted to highlight the plight of elephants, particularly in the wild, and why zoos are important to study and fully understand the challenges faced by dwindling elephant populations globally. He said the day was also aimed to give free zoo access to marginalised children who now had a better understanding of elephants.

He said that training was an essential part of the elephant management plan at the zoo.

“It is undertaken to enrich physical and mental stimulation and as part of [the] cooperative medical management regime.”

He said the benefits of this training – which detractors have described as making the elephants perform tricks – was that it helped ease stress; ensured continuity if previous training was undertaken; reduced the need to immobilise animals through the use of tranquilisers and sedatives; aided in moving animals to a safe area in the event of an emergency and the immediate detection of health concerns.

“The training is reward-based to encourage participation, is optional, is limited to a few minutes, is not designed for ‘tricks’ for ‘performance’ purposes and is certainly not punitive.

“Any person with any knowledge of animal welfare, including the NSPCA, should have known better than to accuse the zoo of mismanagement of its elephants as these are accepted norms and standards of animal husbandry, practices not only within a good zoo environment but also within sanctuaries. Unfortunately, BAT and the NSPCA, who have no training in the management of elephants, used the enrichment and behavioural talk to incite anger and provoke aggression on social media towards the Joburg Zoo.”

Maduka said that the zoo remained steadfast in its mandate to act as an ethical institution that complies with all legislated requirements of conservation and education in the city.

He calles on all residents to exercise care in the manner in which they consumed and disseminated information.

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