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Ban Animal Trading South Africa

Views and opinions expressed by individuals do not necessarily reflect those of Ban Animal Trading.

Ban Animal Trading is an animal rights organization that exists to end animal exploitation through facilitating positive and meaningful change. To support BAT:

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Ban Animal Trading South Africa
Standard Bank
Cheque Acc Nr 00 040 188 9

05/06/2026

‼️ #𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐙𝐎𝐎 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘: 𝟔 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞, 𝟏𝟐:𝟎𝟎–𝟏𝟑:𝟎𝟎 ‼️

Behind the walls of the , animals pace up and down behind bars, like criminals in jail.

They try to survive far from everything that is natural to them. This is all in the name of ‘education’ and ‘CONservation.’

This Saturday, 6 June, Ban Animal Trading (BAT) will be standing opposite the zoo entrance on Upper Park Drive from 12:00 to 13:00 to say: 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡!

Please stand with us!

In preparation for the peaceful protest, we met with local authorities yesterday. It’s a routine process to ensure the protest is properly coordinated and supported by law enforcement.

Organisations are required to send one or two representative to these meetings. The sent six.

Their presence was excessive and a calculated attempt to intimidate. And in what can only be described as an attempt to render the protest ineffective, they pushed to have us relocated to an area with minimal foot traffic, away from public view.

The animals held captive in the do not speak human. They cannot protest. They cannot demand their freedom. We are their only voice and the tried to silence that voice too.

Two layers of oppression: the animals stripped of their freedom, and the humans who fight for them stripped of theirs. All behind the respectable-sounding facade of education and conservation.

It did not work.

Our permit is in place and we will be exactly where we said we would be and we will be visible, lawful, and vocal.

For every animal pacing their enclosure, 𝐖𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐔𝐏! 🐾✊

For Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba, who have a real chance at living life as elephants in a managed wild habitat, 𝐖𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐔𝐏! 🐘🐘🐘

If their freedom matters to you, come and make your voice heard this Saturday!

📍 Zoo entrance, Upper Park Drive, Johannesburg
🗓️ Saturday, 6 June
🕛 12:00 – 13:00

ANIMALS DESERVE TO BE FREE!

04/06/2026

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK ELEPHANTS

"Our eagles are at risk of extinction - too many elephants have destroyed the large nesting trees"
"Elephants or Marula Trees!!"
"Elephants have smashed and ring-barked the trees, and exceptionally high numbers of impala and other herbivores have removed every seedling that tries to establish".

Some of the misleading and downright disingenuous information propagated by the "sustainable use" adherents.

The reality differs, vastly.

There is a behavioural difference between a bull elephant and a breeding herd of elephants. A stationary bull has more impact than a passing herd. Their behavior changes in sync with the seasons - rainfall and availability of water and grass affects their movements. Elephants prefer grass to woody material, so they switch their feeding between the two.

The hunting fraternity are turning an intricate system of rainfall, soil, fire and the presence of other herbivores into a numbers game. "Too many elephants - cull". The high prices charged for trophy-hunting an elephant makes this statement totally revealing i.r.o. motive.

Biodiversity and ecology is a complex world - it cannot be managed to the standards used in agricultural management. The nostalgic yearnings of hunters for "postcard" open savannah, occassional thickets and large trees are in fact what is being replicated on wildlife ranches.
Connect the dots.....

Elephants are nature's engineers - they open up thickets for other herbivores, enrich soil and grass with their droppings, disperse seeds etc.

KNP is NOT a closed system. GPS and collering studies reveal movement between KNP, Zimbabwe Mozambique - the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA).
Where mature marula trees are present.

"How many elephants can we cull" is no longer viable nor applicable. History reveals that marula trees were dying before and after the infamous culling era.

The decline of old marula trees is NOT proof of collapse - it is a natural progression in a complex ecosystem. Nature will not be "frozen in time" to suit the intentions of a specific group.

Trees are important, as are elephants.
We should care deeply about BOTH.

What is required is to stop trying to force KNP into a "picture perfect" vision; instead, we must acknowledge this national treasure as a complex, dynamic ecosystem that is constantly evolving. Messy, even unsettling at times as this immensely intricate system adapts to a changing climate.

HUMAN AND ANIMAL WELL-BEING CANNOT BE SEPARATED.
This requires acknowledgement that elephants are not "tree killers" but important ecosystem engineers.

KNP was bequeathed to our ENTIRE NATION - not a select few.

As human awarenes awakens to human-animal-environment interconnectivity, these blatant excuses to enforce the culling of elephants must be vociferously opposed, and treated with the total disdain so richly deserved.

03/06/2026

CLASH OF EGOS

The current verbal spat between local and American hunters could be viewed as hilarious but for the REALITY of sentient lives being exterminated for ego and greed.

Watching this saga unfold, the lack of compassion, disproportionate egos and monumental greed is reflected in statements on social media. Some notable comments:

"we do not shoot the biggest and best, we leave them for the foreigners"
"there will always be supply for SA hunters - culling will always have a need"
"most hunting farms only make money from international hunts".

2026 hunting pricelist:
R8 000 per day - additional R5 600 per day for professional video service - includes:
"laundry service during the hunt" - the mind truly boggles at the insinuation
"a reasonable quantity of alcoholic beverages" - explanation for the wounded animals classified as "lost trophies and a frustrating hunt" ???

We leave you with this thought:

The hunting industry regards killing animals as a career and noble sport, yet

PROTECTING ANIMALS IS EXTREMISM???

02/06/2026

🐾 BORN FROM US, LEFT TO SURVIVE 🐾

Every feral cat begins with us failing to sterilise pets, or abandoning them. Over time, their offspring grow up without human contact, forced to survive in a world they were never meant to navigate alone.

They are not the problem; neglect and lack of management are, and yet, they are the ones suffering in the “wild” and blamed for their existence.

Feral cats quietly serve our communities by controlling rats, mice, and other pests around homes, businesses, and public spaces.

Support humane solutions like Trap–Neuter–Release (TNR), which prevent breeding and protect
existing colonies without cruelty.

There are feral cat assist groups in most areas, or else just ask your vet for recommendations.

A small notch on the right ear means they’ve already been sterilised.

In South Africa, the Animals Protection Act No. 71 of 1962 makes it a crime to harm feral cats through poisoning, starvation, or inhumane trapping.

The real solution starts at home: sterilise your pets and never abandon them.

Feral cats didn’t choose this life, but in choosing how we respond to them, we choose who we are.

01/06/2026

✊JOHANNESBURG ZOO PROTEST✊

📆 6 June 2026

⏱️ 12:00 - 13:00

📍Johannesburg Zoo, Upper Park Drive Entrance

Many comments on our recent BAT post call for all animals to be freed from the , and 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞!

However, our current focus is on the elephants, and for good reason 🐘🐘🐘

Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba have a real and immediate opportunity to live life as elephants truly should: free to roam and thrive on their own terms in a protected sanctuary where human disturbance is not permitted.

𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

🚫Zoos are not the sanctuaries they claim to be! They are prisons! 🚫

No matter how large the enclosure or how well-intentioned the keeper, a zoo can never replicate the freedom, complexity, and richness of any animal’s natural habitat.

These are wild beings, not exhibits, and they deserve to be free!

Join the protest and 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞!

29/05/2026

💚🐘EVERY LIFE MATTERS 🐝💚

All creatures have the right to live a life free from harm and exploitation.

Happy weekend from all of us at BAT! 💚

📸 Elizabeth Ann Smith

28/05/2026

‼️ JOHANNESBURG ZOO PROTEST ‼️

Saturday 6 June 2026
12h00 to 13h00
Upper Park Drive, Parkview, Johannesburg

🐘 LAMMIE MOPANE RAMADIBA 🐘
Names that resonate in our hearts and souls; in every fibre of our being.

While we await the outcome of the Pretoria High Court case for their release, we cannot simply proceed "as normal".

There can never be "normal" while these iconic animals are forced to endure lifelong captivity.

Please come and stand beside us in solidarity with Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba.

"THEIR FREEDOM WAS NEVER OURS TO TAKE"

27/05/2026

ABOLISH ZOOS ALREADY

Our fight for Opal’s freedom has spanned a decade, and her plight has touched the hearts of so many people in KZN, across South Africa and around the world.

We have not stopped fighting for her and we will exhaust every single option we have to see her at peace in her golden years.

We have often made mention of the fact that Opal is the face of captive animal suffering; she is a symbol of what animals in zoos endure. The emotions that Opal’s miserable existence elicit should not be felt exclusively for Opal - they should be extrapolated to the many other animals who are held captive alongside her.

Just as Opal belongs in the wild, amongst her own kind and with the option of interacting with other species, so too should the lions, tigers, leopard and other animals imprisoned at the Natal Zoological Gardens. They deserve lives in their natural habitats, they deserve to exhibit their intrinsic behaviours and they deserve the right to freedom and dignity.

Instead, they have been reduced to shadows of their wild counterparts, wasting away in pathetic cages so that people can spend a few seconds gawking at them. The leopard at the Zoological Gardens looks overweight and lethargic. The tigers paint a heartbreaking picture as they pace continuously, showing signs of zoochosis. The lions lay in poorly maintained enclosures and seem like a cruel mockery of the majesty that the king of the jungle should exude.

What will it take for humans to realise that no animal should be caged for human pleasure?

When will we learn that zoos offer nothing in terms of education and conservation?

When will we accept that basic food, water and shelter are simply not enough to ensure a decent quality of life?

Zoos need to be shut down and locked away as a remnant of the past that humans look back on with shame. There is no place for animal prisons in 2026.

Free Opal. Free all the animals at the Natal Zoological Gardens.

Freedom for all animals in zoos, everywhere.

26/05/2026

🐇 BETRAYAL 🐇

Living free in communal burrows, raising their young, browsing their natural habitat - the lives of rabbits before human intervention.

Now they are bred and caged for brutal experiments, sold as food for "pet" snakes, kept as companion animals while occasionally being slaughtered for human consumption.

The latter is now the norm.

The Draft Rabbit Meat Regulations, published March 2025, will bring rabbit meat under the same regulatory approach as red meat and poultry. South Africa exports more than 80% of its' farmed rabbits either processed or LIVE.

Some telling quotes from rabbit farmers:
"rabbits can be successfully farmed with very little financial outlay as they breed continuously"
"rabbits are very clean animals, which makes slaughtering uncomplicated and very hygienic"
"the meat is high in protein and low in fat - perfect for the lucrative health-food market".

Chasing taste preferences and monetary gain, their rights are conveniently overlooked.

Ultimately, what is on our plate is our sole and deliberate choice. Compassion for all should be the natural determining factor.

Any choice to the contrary is a brutal betrayal of all sentient beings' right to life.

25/05/2026

✨𝐘𝐎𝐔 ARE WHERE IT ALL BEGINS✨

🐘💚Long before any case reaches a courtroom, it lives in the hearts of people like you. It is your voices, your refusal to forget and your love for animals you may never meet that plant the very first seed of change.

Court action is absolutely vital, but it doesn’t just arrive without the years of love and outrage that come before it in the form of protests and other actions of compassion.

A special thank you to the EMS Foundation
and Animal Law Reform South Africa
for taking Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba’s fight for freedom to court and giving these elephants a voice where it matters most.

💚It is activists like you, our Compassionate Hearts, who keep these animals alive in the world’s conscience💚

You are the beginning of every fight ever won for animals 🙏

Never underestimate that ✊

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http://www.bananimaltrading.org/

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