The Happy Pod: Portugal’s last circus elephant rehomed

**Chantal Hartle** (0:00)
This is the HappyPod from the BBC World Service. I'm Chantal Hartle, and in this edition, Portugal's last circus elephant reaches her forever home.

**Ryan Hockley** (0:15)
She's exploring the outside more and more each day. She's using the mud wallow. We couldn't be happier with the progress that she's making.

**Chantal Hartle** (0:25)
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**Kate Detweiler** (0:30)
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**Chantal Hartle** (0:38)
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**SPEAKER_5** (0:43)
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**Chantal Hartle** (0:50)
And?

**Zulfa Hassan** (0:52)
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**Chantal Hartle** (1:01)
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We start with a sanctuary giving retired circus elephants the freedom to roam. The site in Portugal, run by the Pangea Trust, covers around a thousand acres and aims to give elephants the closest possible alternative to their natural habitat. It now has its first resident, Julie, a 40-year-old African elephant. She'd been with the circus in Portugal since 1988, almost her entire life, until the country banned the use of wild animals for entertainment two years ago. In a moment, we'll hear how Julie is settling in to her new surroundings. But first, the BBC was given a tour of the sanctuary last year, as it was preparing to welcome its first elephants.

**SPEAKER_7** (1:53)
We might be in the middle of Portugal, but the landscape is very reminiscent of Africa. It's just the flat-topped acacia trees have been replaced by cork oak trees.
And it's not difficult to imagine elephants wallowing in this little waterhole.

**SPEAKER_8** (2:09)
It's a really beautiful site, actually. It used to be a cattle farm and an eucalyptus plantation. And we've spent the last one to two years basically trying to restore the biodiversity on site to get ready for elephants. It's going to be closed to visitors, so we will have the odd open day for local communities. But no, this is all about the welfare of the elephants.

**SPEAKER_7** (2:30)
Grace Fonseca is on Pangea's board. As a former Portuguese Minister of Culture, she's passionate about the project.

**Grace Fonseca** (2:37)
You know, one of the first visits I did here, and we were passing through a really small cafe, and the lady was like, ah, you are the person that's going to bring the elephants. And we were, yeah, yeah, we are bringing elephants. Yes, you know, I thought, oh, my name is here. They wouldn't believe me, but now they believe me. You are bringing the elephants. You know, it's really interesting the way that the community are engaged with the project, because it's about, really, elephants here.

**Chantal Hartle** (3:03)
Well, they might just believe it now. Pangea's sanctuary manager, Ryan Hockley, told me how Julie, their first resident, is getting on.

**Ryan Hockley** (3:12)
She's doing really well. We're really pleased with the progress that she's making. She seems to have settled in quickly. So she's very comfortable with the inside space, and she's exploring the outside habitats more and more each day.
She's using the mud wallow, which is vitally important for any elephant, captive or wild, for skincare. But she's behaving just like a wild elephant insofar as, you know, on the particularly hot days, she'll put a protective layer of mud on to obviously shield her from sun and also biting insects. We couldn't be happier with the progress that she's making. In modern terms, this was one of the last areas of elephant habitat. So it's just a lovely story. I think that Pangea chose this place to develop their sanctuary.
And as I look out of my window across the rolling countryside, if I just use my imagination, I could be in Tanzania or Kenya, somewhere like that. Particularly, you know, for the African elephants that are arriving here, I'd like to think that choosing the Iberian Peninsula has really given us a chance to give them a habitat as close as you can get to Africa, as you possibly could do without stepping foot there.

**Chantal Hartle** (4:32)
Were you expecting her to take so well to this new environment? Because she's been in the circus for nearly 40 years. You would think it would be difficult to adjust, but it sounds like things are going really well.

**Ryan Hockley** (4:47)
Yeah, exactly.
I'm pleasantly surprised at the speed that she's settled in, forming relationships with the care team. And there are some patterned behaviors that she has naturally brought across from that life, you know, stereotypical behaviors. So maybe people have seen videos of elephants where they sort of rock backwards and forwards or sway from side to side. It's performed by animals to reduce anxiety and stress levels. We've already seen with Julie a marked reduction in stereotypical behaviors. She's clearly feeling less anxious or, you know, stressed than she previously was. So really happy for her.