An elephant named Ramba that used to perform in circuses rests after arriving at the Brazilian Elephant Sanctuary (AFP Photo/Rogerio Florentino) |
Chapada dos Guimarães (Brazil) (AFP) - An Asian elephant that spent decades performing in South American circuses has started a new life in an open-air sanctuary in Brazil, after travelling thousands of kilometers by plane and truck from a Chilean zoo.
Ramba's
much-anticipated arrival at the 1,133-hectare (2,800-acre) Elephant Sanctuary
Brazil in the central west state of Mato Grosso late Friday was broadcast live
on Facebook and viewed thousands of times.
The
elephant, estimated to be more than 52 years old, worked in circuses in
Argentina and Chile before she was rescued by activists in 2012.
She was
then kept in a roadside zoo in Rancagua, in central Chile, while her rescuers
searched for a new home.
Her ordeal
left her with abscesses as well as kidney and liver problems.
Ramba was
flown to the Viracopos international airport near Sao Paulo on Wednesday -- a
day before heavily armed gunmen raided the cargo terminal in a daring heist.
She was
then transported by flat-bed truck to the sanctuary in Chapada dos Guimaraes,
which was opened in 2016 with the help of US-based Global Sanctuary for
Elephants (GSE) -- the first of its kind in Latin America.
Ramba joins
two other female Asian elephants, Rana and Maia, also former circus performers.
Videos of
Ramba's road trip in Brazil were posted online. One shows her munching on
watermelons in a metal crate on the back of a truck.
Ramba was
accompanied by GSE chief Scott Blais as well as a veterinarian, volunteers and
Brazilian federal police.
"Ramba
needs a quiet place, one where she feels safe and is not on display, where she
is surrounded by others of her kind who truly understand her and can help her
to open her heart fully," Blais said in a statement.
"She needs sanctuary."
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