On September 3 elephant Charley was released into a new enclosure at Shambala Private Reserve, where he can now roam one hectare in the savanna and start foraging for food by himself.
Charley, relocated from Pretoria Zoo to a reserve in Limpopo in August, took careful steps on his first day into the boma, but is now walking around with confidence in the bigger boma where he had his first mud bath.
He is curious about the grass in the savannah around him but still gets his favourite foods like pumpkin.
“He absolutely loves and devours his pumpkin rapidly,” said Dr Marina Ivanova, Four Paws veterinarian.
To prepare the 42-year-old elephant for an independent life in the wild, he is receiving special care and a rich diet of vegetables, fruits, and branches to gain weight.
Photo: Four Paws
Ivanova said Charley is a fast learner.
“He is discovering something new every day. He is a totally different elephant and is behaving day by day more like a normal elephant now. He is getting all the food he loves, especially paw-paws and bananas,” said Ivanova.
With this special feeding and trust-building programme, the African elephant is being prepared for his life in the wild by an expert team of global animal welfare organisation Four Paws and his future caretakers in Shambala Reserve near Vaalwater in Limpopo.
“Charley is a very special elephant. He adapts really well to his new environment. He has already built a strong bond of trust with the new caretakers,” said Ivanova.
“It is simply beautiful to see that he has already started communicating with the other elephants in the reserve from afar.
Last week, he trumpeted for the very first time and used his trunk to pour water over his head. Yesterday, he enjoyed his first mud bath since being in captivity for over four decades. It is with great joy that we are watching him settle in so well,” she said.
His new enclosure has a pool and a mud bath, which are important for elephants’ skincare.
The new enclosure serves as an important step for his later release into the 12 000 hectare reserve, where he can decide to join one of the two elephant groups or to live alone.
To get Charley ready, a lot still needs to be done. He is currently being taught to come back to his safe space in the enclosure, which is important for example for future veterinary examinations.
“In the wild, elephants walk up to 150km per day,” explained Ivanova. “We are teaching him how to pick fresh branches from trees, which are important for his digestion.”
She remarked that his captivity, first as a circus animal and then at the zoo, has left deep wounds that are now starting to heal.
“He has shown signs of distress, including repetitive head-swaying, in the zoo. This is a behaviour commonly found in captivity but has started to recover now,” said Ivanova.
Charley’s nails had deep cracks and needed special attention.
In Shambala, Charley already started his own foot care by shaping them by rubbing on rocks, as wild elephants do.
Before he is set loose, Charley, who currently weighs five tons, needs to gain at least more than a hundred kilograms. So, every day he is fed a rich diet of up to 130kg of seasonal vegetables, fruits, hay and branches.
Four Paws, Elizabeth Margaret Steyn (EMS) Foundation and Shambala Private Reserve worked in collaboration to secure Charley a retirement to the 12 000-hectare Shambala Private Reserve in Limpopo.
Before being retired to Shambala Private Reserve on August 19, Charley had spent most of his life in captivity.
He was born in 1982 in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. He was captured when still a youngster to perform at Boswell Circus two years later in South Africa.
When his owner faced charges of animal cruelty for beating his elephants and not providing them with enough water and shade, Charley was transferred to a zoo in Pretoria in 2001, where he spent more than two decades in a barren enclosure.
– Click here to see Charley move about and hear vets talking about his recovery:
Catch Up on Charley here:
- Elephant Charley settles in at his Limpopo boma
- Charley shapes for big move from Capital City zoo to wilder pastures
- UPDATE: Home still sought for retiring 43-year-old Pretoria elephant
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