Free Opal campaign: Protests to continue

“The issue with humanity is that we think its acceptable for a wild animal to be caged in a cement block because we want to look at it and we forget that those animals have emotions – they feel claustrophobic and need companionship. They feel love, anger, sadness. If we need to have captive animals, we should treat them humanely and with a little bit of dignity and respect” – Borain

Circus owner and well-known zookeeper Brian Boswell remains in the spotlight after the weekend’s protests around the release of orangutan Opal from the Natal Zoological Gardens near Pietermaritzburg.

More than one hundred disgruntled protesters gathered from as early as 9 am on Saturday morning for the Free Opal the orangutan campaign.

The petition, launched by the Kloof SPCA ,initially brought Opal’s plight to light and has thus far gained over 9000 signatures and growing daily.

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Animal activist Karen Borain led the chanting crowd with banners, placards and posters determined to free Boswell’s animals saying; “If the animals had more space and they made more of an effort to replicate their natural environment, then there would be no issue. If you research an orangutan’s and tiger’s natural environment, you will see just how far off Boswell animals are from that. The tigers, for example, are housed in tiny concrete cells instead of grass and trees and rivers to swim in.”

Brian Boswell said in a statement that Opal was born at the Natal Zoological Gardens and has given birth to a baby of her own in the past. The baby was a male who was relocated to another facility to diversify the gene pool, said Boswell. He said that breeding program was stopped over 20 years ago.

He said the SPCA had regularly inspected Opal at the Zoo since then and the issue of her solitude has not been an alleged point of cruelty. Boswell said many attempts have been made in this time to find another mate for Opal but permits have been denied to prevent breeding.

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“We feel that this is another publicity stunt driven by the NSPCA to raise donations for an issue that does not exist. The SPCA Facebook page is directing people to donate to the SPCA rather than to any cause that would benefit Opal. The proposed facility in the UK that the SPCA would like to have Opal relocated to is not a registered charity and is in fact a breeding facility that profits from the display of primates in the form of admissions. Such facilities use media campaigns such as this to generate donations,” said Boswell in the statement.

He added further that he was saddened that there were ” so called welfare organisations casting aspersions about a mentally and physically healthy animal for their own financial gain”.

Protesters, from all walks of life, were there to support the campaign, some who had visited the zoo previously and appalled by what they had seen.

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“I came to the zoo about five years ago with my family and I cried for days afterwards because of the conditions that the animals lived in and the way they were treated,” said an upset Noleen Hanson.

Carol Booth, from Monkey Helpline, said they had been aware of Opal’s plight for many years; “Opal does not deserve this life and she needs normality. I have hope that Boswell will release Opal into a better sanctuary with other orangutans if he really loves her. I will not chant ‘Boswell must fall’ because I still believe that there is goodness in him and he needs to take time to consider doing what is right for the animals.”

Booth said that Boswell must go down in history as the man who did the right thing by giving the animals a good home and not a man hated by all.

Little Tayla Timm, 8, who was at the protest had saved her money to buy Opal a giant teddy bear. An animal behaviorist had suggested that people donate toys for Opal.

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Georgina Boswell, daughter of Brian Boswell, who represented the Boswells outside the zoo refused any and all “donations” for Opal saying that synthetic and plastic items posed as a danger to Opal and she is only allowed industrial items that she will not be able to swallow.

“Opal is content where she is. She should not be moved from her home. She is fed daily and all her needs are met here,” said Georgina.

Cheri Cooke from the Kloof SPCA said continued pressure needed to be maintained on Boswell so he eventually allowed the animals to be relocated to a sanctuary.

“As an Inspector at the Kloof and Highway SPCA, I have been involved in assessing the well-being of the caged animals at this zoo. This task never fails to wrench my emotions, leaving me desperate to find a far better quality of life for them,” said Cooke.

Opal is a 36 year old orangutan that has been kept at the zoo. Concerns have been raised on her captivity in “un-natural like” surroundings.

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“Each day she is released from her sleeping cage into her daytime cell. There on a meagre patch of grass with a makeshift ‘jungle gym’ of poles, where she spends every day of her life. Alone but for the people who come to stare. Her response to this heartlessly barren confinement, when she can take no more and has no hope of privacy or escape, she flings her own dung at the people watching her degradation,” she said.

There are two other petitions with world-wide support for the SPCA’s campaign to compel Boswell to release Opal. In December‚ animal rights activists protested at the zoo after the shooting of six tigers that had escaped from the zoo a neighbouring farm.

Cooke confirmed they would be laying criminal charges against Boswell under the Animal Protection Act.