Ban Animal Trading (Bat) will be protesting for the release of Lammie the elephant outside the Johannesburg Zoo on Jan Smuts Avenue on 9 February.
This follows in the wake of worldwide campaigns to have Lammie released to an elephant sanctuary after the death of her companion, Kinkel, in September last year.
Director of Bat Smaragda Louw said she hopes that about 200 people will join the protest which will begin at 11am.
“We will meet on the corner of Jan Smuts Avenue and Upper Park Drive at 11am and form a line from that corner to the entrance to the zoo on Jan Smuts Avenue. We have a permit from the JMPD to conduct this protest until 1.30pm,” said Louw.
Louw encourages participants to bring their own posters and stand in solidarity to #FreeLammie.
The protest comes after the Johannesburg Zoo announced that they are engaging with relevant authorities to obtain in-principle support to acquire a companion for Lammie.
Louw said, “Lammie the lone elephant should be released into a wild reserve where she can roam free and bond with a herd… We request the Johannesburg City Council to review recommendations from the welfare organisations and, together with the zoo, to urgently take a final decision towards Lammie’s relocation and to authorise her release to a sanctuary where she can finally unite with other female elephants of different ages in a herd and family structure that is essential to an elephant’s social well-being.”
Spokesperson for the Johannesburg Zoo Jenny Moodley confirmed that the protest is legal.
Related articles:
Flash back: Ban Animal Trading conducts silent protest outside Lammie’s enclosure at the Joburg Zoo
WATCH: Picket calls for the release of Lammie the elephant from Joburg Zoo, City Parks responds
Humane Society International urges the public to sign a petition to free Lammie
