Elephants in an accident cause outrage
Genetic diversity and secrecy
A large articulated truck transporting four elephants captured at the Addo Elephant Park1 had an accident causing it to fall onto its side on the Olifantskop Pass at about one pm on Wednesday. Fortunately, all humans and elephants survived the accident without any visible injuries.
Spokesperson for South African National Parks (SANParks) Fayroush Ludick confirmed, “There is a SANParks veterinarian on-site, monitoring the elephants, who all appear to be unharmed. There were no injuries incurred in the accident”.
SANParks had donated the elephants which were being translocated to the Samara Private Game Reserve near Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape.
It is not clear how the accident occurred but preliminary reports indicate that a ‘shift in weight’ caused the vehicle to fall onto its side. The absence of injuries and level of damage to the truck suggest that it was travelling slowly when the incident occurred, but that perhaps the animals had not been suitably secured.
The N10 highway was closed off while two recovery vehicles were summoned to complete the journey for the elephants. While waiting for the trucks, local game farms provided food and water so that the attending veterinarians could see to the immediate needs of the pachyderms.
Once the recovery vehicle arrived, the elephants were loaded up and taken to their destination on the Samara Reserve where they arrived at about 3:00am on Thursday. The elephants calmly disembarked and went off into the dark of their new home range.
Soon after the accident happened, people expressed a range of emotions on social media. Many were concerned about the well-being of the elephants and others were dismayed that the translocation took place on a particularly hot day which no doubt made the journey uncomfortable for the heat sensitive elephants.
The National Society for the Protection of Animals (NSPCA) published a statement asking why the elephants were donated to a private reserve. It read:
The elephants were allegedly “donated” from a SANParks reserve to Samara Private Game Reserve, who offers hunting opportunities near Graaff-Reinet.
The Grahamstown2 SPCA is on-site, ensuring the welfare of the animals, especially as they are trapped inside the truck in 31°C heat.
The statement was not so subtly suggesting that the transaction might have been suspicious. Why else would a state-run reserve donate valuable animals to a well-resourced privately-run lodge? The Samara experience is expensive so that the overwhelming majority of South Africans could never afford to visit it.
I have no idea whether hunting is ever allowed on Samara, but there is nothing on their web site suggesting that hunting takes place. It is clear that the NSPCA had not checked online before issuing their statement, but they did publish the following:
EDIT as of 06 March 2025: It has come to our attention that Samara Karoo Reserve does not permit hunting, contrary to information previously available online. At the time of the original publication, there was no clear indication that hunting was not allowed. Now that this has been clarified, we accept that Samara Karoo Reserve does not engage in hunting activities.
This is not an apology nor a retraction, nor does it acknowledge that the NSPCA itself was guilty of publishing “the information previously available online”.
Unsurprisingly, Samara was enraged by the NSPCA’s statements:
“Unfortunately this post by NSPCA is disgraceful clickbait profiting off a tragic accident to spread lies. It is categorically FALSE that Samara offers “hunting opportunities”. Samara Karoo Reserve is a conservation undertaking committed to wildlife reintroduction and land restoration, funded by photographic tourism. We are NOT a hunting operation.
“The truth is that four elephants were captured in Addo Elephant National Park this morning for translocation to Samara to establish a new population of elephants on a part of the reserve that has not had elephants for an estimated 150 years. This translocation is about expanding the habitat available for elephants to thrive. Samara is assisting SANParks by providing homes for elephants as the current population in Addo Elephant National Park is expanding beyond the park’s habitat resources. All the appropriate permissions were granted for this translocation”.
As a point of clarification, a person with close links to the Addo Park management posted, “It is common practice within the game community to donate elephants. The relocation and transport costs, which are huge, are carried by the new owners.
“There is nothing underhanded about this arrangement”.
Personally, I am confident that there is nothing suspicious about this arrangement at all. State owned game reserves and private lodges often exchange animals without any payments for a variety of reasons
There are however, two reasons why people could be sceptical about such transactions. In the first place, by force of habit, SANParks is unnaturally secretive. For some unknown reasons, the ethos within the organisation is not to divulge any information about anything unless it really has to. This lack of transparency is one of the factors that caused the outcry over the elephants for Samara.
The public was not informed about the operation until the N10 highway was blocked by a massive truck lying on its side. Even then, the release of information was tight-lipped and minimalist. It feels like they were caught out.
The second reason for the scepticism is the fact that almost everything the South African government touches is shrouded in corruption. More about this issue can be found elsewhere, but it is safe to say that South Africans have little faith in the honesty of government transactions.
It is worth noting that this week’s translocation was not the first time an Addo Elephant has been moved to Samara. The bull known informally as ‘Jeremy’ was transferred in 2022, but nothing was revealed to the Addo public.
Ultimately, we need to consider what is best for the long term future of the African elephant as an endangered species3. There is no doubt that the elephant population of the Addo Elephant Park is burgeoning and the removal of four animals will hardly be noticed except by their immediate herd members. If those four can help create another healthy population where none has existed for 150 years, so much the better.
Expanding genetic diversity is one of the best reasons for the regular exchange of animals between parks.
SANParks is the state-run custodian of the Addo Elephant Park and 19 other public reserves in South Africa.
Where I live. The town is now called Makhanda. The local SPCA Facebook page
Saw that incident on the PE-Makhanda/Gtn road conditions Whatsapp group yesterday morning. Scary rollover for trapped animals - and ironic that it happened on the Olifantskop Pass.