Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane will remain at the Johannesburg Zoo after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria dismissed an application seeking their release for rehabilitation and possible rewilding.

Judge Noluntu Bam handed down the judgment on 16 October 2026. Animal Law Reform South Africa, the EMS Foundation and Chief Stephen Michael Fritz brought the application. 

The applicants sought to have the elephants’ continued confinement declared unlawful and unconstitutional. They also sought an order allowing the animals to be moved to a rehabilitation facility.

The court dismissed the application without a costs order.

Why the application failed

The judgment did not find that the elephants are thriving in captivity or that every concern raised about their welfare was unfounded.

Instead, the case failed largely on its legal foundation.

Judge Bam found that the applicants had attempted to rely directly on constitutional rights without first using or challenging the environmental legislation that regulates the keeping and management of elephants.

The court also found that they had not identified a specific provision of that regulatory framework that the zoo or other respondents had breached.

A further part of the case attempted to review the zoo’s alleged decision to keep the elephants, or its failure to decide to release them.

However, the court found that the applicants had not established a reviewable administrative decision on which this claim could succeed. 

This distinction matters. The court did not dismiss the application because it resolved all disputed evidence about the elephants’ physical and psychological wellbeing. It was dismissed because the legal requirements for the requested relief were not met.

The zoo welcomes the outcome

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo welcomed the judgment and said the elephants would remain under the zoo’s existing valid permit.

Managing director Thanduxolo Mendrew said their caregivers, veterinary professionals and the City were responsible for the animals.

The zoo maintains that the elephants receive dedicated care and are closely monitored. In May 2026, it said veterinarians from the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital had assessed all three animals and given them a clean bill of health. 

Welfare concerns have not disappeared

The applicants argued that the zoo environment could not adequately meet the elephants’ physical, emotional and social needs. Their concerns included the animals’ space, freedom of movement, enrichment and ability to display natural behaviour.

The zoo disputed these allegations, arguing that relocation could carry its own risks for animals accustomed to managed care.

Following the ruling, the EMS Foundation maintained that the dismissal should not be presented as proof that the welfare concerns had been disproved. It called for an independent assessment of any properly resourced relocation proposal, taking the elephants’ health, safety, social relationships and long-term care into account. 

The judgment therefore leaves the animals where they are, but it does not end the public debate about their long-term future.

A correction to early reports

Some coverage described the elephants as remaining under an “extended permit”. The zoo's more consistent account, along with detailed reports on the judgment, is that they remain under the zoo’s existing valid permit.

The Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, not the Johannesburg High Court, decided the case.

The Bottom Line

The court has not ordered Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane to be moved, so their immediate home remains the Johannesburg Zoo.

However, the ruling was primarily about whether the applicants had built a legally sustainable case. It did not provide a final scientific answer on whether keeping the elephants at the zoo or relocating them to a sanctuary would best serve their future.