Ago 31, 2026 |
More than two thousand elephants could be culled in South Africa, warns a short film starring life-size giant puppets.
According to Humane World for Animals, the organisation that commissioned and funded the film, the threatened animals are found in the Madikwe reserve in North West province, and in several game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal, where provincial management authorities cite overpopulation to justify the cull, an option under discussion at both provincial and national level.
The puppets that bring the cull scenario to life were designed by Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company, and built by South African collective Ukwanda Puppets, known for their work on productions such as War Horse. The elephants were created in 2016 for the show Olifantland, dedicated to poaching, and seven puppeteers were needed to animate them during filming at Cape Point.
Humane World for Animals advocates non-lethal alternatives, including immunocontraception, the opening of ecological corridors to allow natural dispersal, and the expansion of reserves. According to the organisation, the immunocontraception programme it runs with the University of Pretoria's Veterinary Population Management Laboratory has already vaccinated more than 1,800 wild female elephants across 50 South African reserves over 25 years.
A bióloga Audrey Delsink, directora sénior de vida selvagem da organização, apelou nas declarações divulgadas pela instituição a “a complete halt on the idea that elephants need to be mass culled” (uma paragem completa da ideia de que os elefantes precisam de ser abatidos em massa), sustentando que vários governos provinciais adiaram durante anos a aplicação de métodos não letais.
According to figures presented by the same organisation, large-scale culling officially ended in South Africa with a 1995 moratorium, after more than 14,500 elephants were killed in Kruger National Park. The country is now home to around 44,000 elephants, of which approximately 35,000 are in Kruger, with the African savanna elephant listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Siphokazi Mpofu, do colectivo Ukwanda, afirmou, em declarações incluídas no mesmo comunicado, que “the puppets have the unique power to make people stop, look, and connect emotionally” (as marionetas têm o poder único de fazer as pessoas parar, olhar e ligar-se emocionalmente).
Photos/Video: Humane World for Animals
