WATCH: Lammie the Elephant turned 40
Joburg Zoo celebrated World Elephant Day.
On Monday, August 12, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) celebrated World Elephant Day (WED) and the birthday of Lammie, an Elephant who was born at the Zoo 40 years ago.
Launched in 2012, the inaugural WED was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African Elephants as poaching, habitat loss, Human-Elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity escalates.
Schools across Johannesburg were invited to celebrate with JCPZ as the entrance to the zoo was free of charge.
Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for community development, Nonhlanhla Sifumba, said that every child should enjoy a life-altering experience of a face to face visit with an Elephant and that she urged visitors to take advantage of this opportunity so that they could learn how to be more conscientious when it comes to protecting the environment.
With the formal event starting at 11 am, visitors were given talks about the significance of WED. John Werth, who is the Executive Director of the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria (PAAZA) said that WED is all about working towards better protection for wild elephants, improving enforcement policies to prevent the illegal poaching and trade of Ivory, conserving habitats, better treatment for captive Elephants and, when appropriate, reintroducing captive elephants into natural, protected sanctuaries.
“These are some of the goals that Elephant conservation organisations are focusing on around the world,” said Werth.
After the formal event visitors were allowed to meet Lammie as they sang and wished her a happy birthday.
Volunteers at the Zoo also hosted separate talks and educated visitors on everything they needed to know about Elephants. Visitors were allowed to further explore the Zoo for the rest of the day.
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