Durban - The call for Opal the orangutan to be released to a new home escalated this week with activists around the world supporting the SPCA’s campaign.
Since the Sunday Tribune highlighted Opal’s plight last week, a number of online petitions have been created with one gaining more than 30 000 signatures.
The SPCA has been calling for public support for Opal to be released to the Monkey World Ape Rescue centre in the UK because she is living a lonely life at the Natal Zoological Gardens owned by Brian Boswell.
The SPCA’s Cheri Cooke confirmed that they would be laying criminal charges against Boswell under the Animal Protection Act. But Boswell is not having any of it.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Boswell said that the SPCA could try as much as it liked, but he would never let Opal go and it was in her best interests to stay.
“The SPCA must charge me if they want to. I have done nothing wrong. If they say that I am contravening the Animal Protection Act, they need to show me what exactly it is that I am doing,” he said.
“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. The breeding programme was stopped and in the 24 years since then, the SPCA has done numerous inspections at the zoo.
“The issue of Opal’s solitude has not been an alleged case of cruelty, but suddenly they have a problem. Many attempts have been made to find another mate for Opal and the government has denied permits to prevent breeding,” said Boswell.
He said he believed this was a publicity stunt driven by the SPCA to raise donations.
“The SPCA Facebook page is directing people to donate to the SPCA rather than to any cause that would benefit Opal. Orangutans are naturally semi-solitary animals. After 34 years, Opal is comfortable in her environment. We feel it would be detrimental and traumatic for her to endure transportation and adaptation to a new climate or facility.
“This has been the only home that Opal has known for 34 years. She has daily interaction with her keepers and constant environmental enrichment,” he said.
He said the facility in the UK that the SPCA would like to have Opal relocated to was not a registered charity and was a breeding facility that profited from the display of primates in the form of admissions.
“Such facilities use media campaigns, such as this, to generate donations,” he said.
The Sunday Tribune visited Opal at the zoo on Friday. She was having peanut butter on bread for her morning tea in her enclosure and eventually came out when Boswell called her.
“Does this look like an unhappy animal?” he asked, saying that Opal was free to do as she pleased and that she was not restricted at the zoo. He said Opal had enough fresh water, ample food, a bed in an enclosed shelter and a wooden structure to play on.
Cooke said that the SPCA was not on a fund-raising campaign and that if it needed funds to move Opal, it would ask for help.
“We are genuinely trying to help Opal lead the life that she deserves. This is never going to happen under Boswell’s watch.
“We are meeting the prosecutor to find a way forward,” she said.
* See our video with Brian Boswell at the Natal Zoological Gardens at www.youtube/ kXHNjVZZlxg
Sunday Tribune