Press Release
THUKELA ELEPHANTS FIND SANCTUARY AT LAST
14 November 2006
Nine African elephants condemned to death earlier this year have finally made the long journey by road to a safe haven in the Limpopo Province.
It has been a tense and anxious eight months for the animal rights activists who in March this year launched a frantic effort to save the elephants from being shot. After a successful land claim bid the elephants were not wanted on the conservation land that had been returned to its original human owners and would now be used to graze cattle and goats.
Three weeks ago these elephants had confounded efforts to capture them by seeking refuge in the inaccessible hills of what was formerly the Thukela Biosphere Reserve in central KwaZulu-Natal. On that occasion, though, two of them were darted and fitted with radio collars which made it possible to monitor their movements on a daily basis. This meant that as soon as they moved into an area favourable for capturing them the rescue operation would be able to swing into action. This past Friday, 10 November 2006, that happened and within eighteen hours the entire rescue team from as far away as Cape Town and Pretoria was assembled on site and the rescue got underway.
On Saturday morning, 11 November 2006, the elephants were darted from a helicopter, loaded into a transport truck and translocated almost a thousand kilometers north to the safety of SANWILD Wildlife Sanctuary and Reserve near Gravelotte in Limpopo Province.
Although it was thought that there could be as many as twelve elephants in the herd, only nine were sighted on both this and the previous occasion. All nine were successfully rescued. However, should there be any elephants left on the Thukela Biosphere Reserve, Animal Rights Africa (ARA), the organization responsible for initiating this rescue is fully committed to doing whatever might be necessary to rescue them as well.
On arrival at SANWILD, after a sixteen hour journey, there was a collective holding of breath by everyone present when the first elephant, a large bull, stepped tentatively from the truck onto the offloading ramp, stood for a while sniffing the air and then rambled down the ramp into the holding boma followed by two other elephants. Elation turned to anxious trepidation when, shortly after the three animals had disappeared into the trees, the energizer supplying current to the electric fences around the boma suddenly started beeping a warning that the fence had been breached. On inspection it became obvious that the three elephants had just walked right through the fences and into the main reserve. The remaining elephants, including a cow and her small calf, were also released from the truck and immediately followed the first three elephants through the broken boma fence. However, the elephants settled in an area not far from the boma and have since shown no sign of trying to escape from the sanctuary.
Michele Pickover, one of the animal rights activists from Animal Rights Africa (ARA) who initiated the rescue of these elephants said, "This has been a nerve wracking and very emotional experience for all who have put in effort to rescue these elephants. You must remember that all these elephants carry the emotional scars of having their families killed around them during previous culling operations in Kruger National Park. On that occasion their fear was also associated with a hovering, herding helicopter", she said. "They were not to know that this time round the cause of their fear was in fact helping them stay alive. To watch that first bull elephant step from the truck on to the safe soil of SANWILD brought tears to the eyes of many who were there to witness the miracle we all feel this has been."
"We have only been able to save these elephants because SANWILD was able to provide a safe home for them and also because of the generous donations made by so many caring individuals and organisations both locally and from abroad. Donations from international organizations such as the Bill Jordan Foundation, Born Free Foundation and Brigitte Bardot Foundation were matched by donations from local organisations such as African Blessings and Beauty Without Cruelty, and many ordinary, animal-caring South Africans."
"The public support for this rescue operation has been tremendous, and it is obvious that there is a large body of people out there who feel very strongly about what happens to individual elephants. This is something the government should pay particular attention to when making decisions about elephant management in South Africa. It would be a big mistake and a tragedy to repeat the atrocities of previous elephant management policies", Pickover said.
For more information contact:
ARA: Steve Smit - 082 659 4711 or Michele Pickover - 082 253 2124
SANWILD: Louise Joubert - 083 310 3882
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