Brussels 22.08.2024 The last elephant in captivity in South Africa’s national zoo has been released back into the wild after being caged for 40 years for commercial purpose. (Image: illustration)

The elephant, named Charlie, was captured in 1984 from Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park when he was two years old, and spent his entire life for entertaining the zoo visitors.
However he was had not only suffered from caged existence during these decades in captivity, but he was used in to Boswell Wilkie Circus in South Africa, where he was trained to perform various tricks. After the cruelty in circus, he was transferred to the cage in the national zoo in the early 2000s.

In recent years, animal welfare groups have pushed for the elephant to be freed due to concern for his health.

Wild elephants have long life spans and typically live up to 60 or even 70 years of age, but captive elephants have significantly lower life spans than their wild counterparts and are usually die before the age of 40. Undoubtfully it is a positive change for Charlie, who suffered human cruelty for four decades, to return to normality, and enjoy freedom of the natural reserve. Sadly human greed prevented the liberation to happen earlier.