KZN North Coast Community demands justice for Opal

The KwaZulu-Natal North Coast community will rally in a powerful display of unity to support Ban Animal Trading’s (BAT) relentless campaign to secure an independent veterinary assessment for Opal. The 45-year-old Borneo orangutan has spent her entire life in a desolate, concrete cell at the Natal Zoological Gardens, near Pietermaritzburg.

The community-driven movement is demanding a professional evaluation by an independent vet, who is a renowned expert in animal translocations. He has agreed to determine if Opal can be safely relocated to a sanctuary, where she can finally experience the dignity and care she deserves.

Nicky Arthur, spokesperson for the North Coast Community Get Vocal for Opal campaign calls on all friends of animals and the natural environment to throw their weight behind the movement to help the primate, as the world marks International Orangutan Day on 19 August.

“Opal has endured 45 years of unimaginable isolation in a barren concrete cage at Natal Zoological Gardens, her eyes reflecting a profound despair that no sentient being should ever know,” she says.

 “We urge every compassionate heart in our community to rally with us now – support our drive to secure an independent veterinary examination that could pave the way for her release and relocation to a sanctuary where she can finally thrive in dignity and freedom. Together, let’s give Opal the justice she deserves,” Arthur said.

Opal’s story is a heart-wrenching symbol of the suffering endured by animals in captivity. Born at the zoo in 1980, she has known only a barren enclosure with minimal enrichment – a makeshift climbing frame that BAT’s Prathna Singh calls “pathetic.”

“She looks so completely hopeless,” Singh says. “If you look at her expression, her eyes just seem so lifeless. She has spent her entire life, over four decades, in that enclosure, in that cage.”

Smaragda Louw of BAT adds: “Opal’s whole story is so very descriptive of all animals in zoos – they are born in a cage, and they literally die in a cage, often alone . They may be a little bit tame, but they are just a shadow of their counterparts in the wild.”

Research is finally catching up with what everybody who looks at animals as sentient beings actually knows. -animals have feelings, they can self-recognise and they feel pain.

“Opal’s case is fitting to show that animals in zoos have no conservation value and that they have no educational value. They do not belong in zoos, but in their natural habitat,” she said.

The plan is urgent and clear: bring in an independent vet to assess Opal’s health and determine her eligibility for relocation, with fundraising efforts supported by the North Coast community.

“We’re asking for a vet to come and assess her so that, if she can be relocated, we can work towards a plan to get her professionally moved. If the vet finds it is not in her best interests at this stage of her life then we will accept that,” Louw said.

Singh described Opal’s living conditions as “bleak”.

“She’s got this barren space, and there’s a climbing gym that is meant to be her stimulation or enrichment. It’s pathetic.” Singh said.

BAT believes the community’s involvement can amplify its fight to stop animal trading, setting an example for others to take responsibility for animals in their care.

Opal’s history is steeped in tragedy.

 According to media reports, she gave birth to a male baby, but conflicting accounts claim the baby either died of tuberculosis or was relocated to diversify the gene pool.

In 1982, Opal was featured in a film, The Crazy Jungle Adventure, alongside other animals at the zoo, a testament to her exploitation for entertainment, BAT notes.

Despite offers from sanctuaries like the Center for Great Apes in the US, where founder Patti Ragan successfully relocated another orangutan, Sandra, from Argentina, Opal remains confined.

According to BAT, Brian Boswell, the former owner of Natal Zoological Gardens and former owner of Boswell’s Circus, staunchly opposed animal rights activists’ attempts to release and relocate Opal.

Louw recalls him telling her that Opal would never be freed.

“His final words to me were ‘I will never let Opal go, because that would mean the animal rights activists have won,” she recalled.

“The zoo has claimed that Opal is comfortable and that their veterinarian advises against relocation, but BAT and the community reject this, demanding transparency through the intervention of an independent expert,” Louw said.

Support the fundraising for her veterinary assessment, share Opal’s story and demand change.