EMS Foundation

13/08/2026

In Loving Memory of Steve Smit

The EMS Foundation is deeply saddened by the death of Steve Smit, a courageous, principled and tireless activist who was pivotal in the development of the animal rights movement in South Africa.

Steve’s activism began decades ago. In 1985, he founded the Front for Animal Liberation and the Conservation of Nature (FALCON) and later, in 2001, established Justice for Animals. He campaigned against the exploitation of animals in all its forms, including the ivory trade, canned hunting, live animal exports and cruelty towards wildlife.

Michele Pickover, Executive Director of the EMS Foundation, first interviewed Steve in 2003 while researching the animal rights movement in South Africa. That research was later published as the book Animal Rights in South Africa and marked the beginning of a long working relationship. Steve and Michele subsequently co-founded Animal Rights Africa, bringing together Justice for Animals, Xwe African Wildlife and South Africans for the Abolition of Vivisection in a historic effort to strengthen animal rights activism nationally.

Through Monkey Helpline, Steve became a fearless and compassionate defender of vervet monkeys. He responded at all hours to animals who were injured, trapped, orphaned or otherwise in distress, while challenging the prejudice and human-made dangers confronting urban wildlife. His work, however, was never limited to one species: Steve understood animal rights as part of a wider struggle against violence, exploitation and injustice.

In 2023, the EMS Foundation was privileged to support the acquisition of a permanent home for Monkey Helpline and the monkeys in its care - helping to secure the future of work to which Steve devoted so much of his life.

Steve will be deeply missed by his colleagues and the animal rights community he helped to build. He will also be missed by the monkeys and the many other animals on whose behalf he acted, whose lives mattered to him and whose suffering he refused to ignore.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Carol, his children and family and everyone who stood alongside him.

Steve leaves an immense legacy of courage, compassion and action. South Africa’s animal rights movement is stronger because he was part of it, and countless animals’ lives were changed because he cared enough to act.

12 August 2026

📸Michele Pickover and Steve Smit 2006

https://emsfoundation.org.za/in-loving-memory-of-steve-smit/

12/08/2026

WORLD ELEPHANT DAY
2026

True dignity for formerly captive elephants requires restoring their autonomy and healing their trauma. By replacing human-imposed compliance with personal choice, they transition into a life defined by safety, freedom, and natural expression.




The PRO Elephant Network
Shambala Private Game Reserve
FOUR PAWS
WeWild Africa
Conservation Solutions
Hoedspruit Animal Hospital - ProVet

12/08/2026

On World Elephant Day, the EMS Foundation calls on South Africa to protect elephants and not revive the unjustifiable mass killing of them.

Culling is increasingly presented by some as necessary despite the absence of credible, site-specific scientific evidence that elephants are causing biodiversity loss or that killing them will remedy it. Nor should their bodies be repackaged as meat, products or short-term employment.

Elephants are sentient, socially complex beings and vital members of dynamic ecosystems. Before any irreversible action is contemplated, authorities are legally bound to publicly demonstrate its necessity, evaluate every humane alternative and address their own governance failures too often blamed on elephants.

South Africa should lead through science, co-existence and constitutional responsibility - not return to regressive colonial and apartheid practice that belongs in the past that risk severe harm to South Africa's international conservation reputation.


World Elephant Day 2026

10/08/2026

WORLD LION DAY
2026
The EMS Foundation has been admitted by the High Court of South Africa as intervening respondent to vociferously oppose a legal challenge by the South African Predator Association (SAPA) attempting to force the government to reopen the international lion bone export trade.



Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
NSPCA - National Council of SPCAs
CITES
Parliament of the Republic of South Africa

06/08/2026

THEIR LIVES MATTER.
THEIR FREEDOM MATTERS.
WE WILL NOT ABANDON THEM.

The EMS Foundation extends its sincere appreciation to everyone in South Africa and around the world who continues to stand in solidarity with Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane, the three elephants confined at the Johannesburg Zoo.

Judgment has been reserved in this landmark Gauteng High Court case and is anticipated during August.

The application seeks their release and relocation to a protected natural environment in Limpopo, where they can be rehabilitated and receive lifelong expert care and support.

This case is about far more than three elephants. It asks whether the confinement of highly intelligent, emotionally complex and socially sophisticated beings for public display can be reconciled with modern science and the values of dignity, compassion and justice on which South Africa’s constitutional democracy is founded.

Elephants are not objects, exhibits or entertainment assets. They are sentient beings with profound social, emotional and ecological needs that cannot adequately be met in an urban zoo.

We will share the Court’s judgment as soon as it is handed down. Whatever the outcome, our commitment remains unchanged: we will continue to pursue every lawful avenue , including, if necessary, the highest court in the land, to secure freedom, dignity and a better future for Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane.

Their lives matter. Their freedom matters. And we will not abandon them.Elephant captivity has no place in a democratic South Africa.

EMS Foundation
6 August 2026

06/08/2026

THE QUESTION SANPARKS STILL HASN’T ANSWERED

Written by Dr Adam Cruise

This is the latest article published in Daily Maverick the going debate between Dr Adam Cruise and Professor Sam Ferreira.

“The debate surrounding 951 elephant deaths in the Kruger National Park has largely become a discussion about conservation science. It should instead be a discussion about public accountability, the ethical limits of state authority over wildlife, and why every deliberate killing of a wild elephant demands individual justification.

Howard Hendricks and Sam Ferreira are undoubtedly correct in observing that elephant management is among the most demanding responsibilities confronting conservation authorities. Few people with any familiarity with African protected areas would deny that managers are frequently required to navigate extraordinarily difficult circumstances in which ecological integrity, human safety, biodiversity conservation and animal welfare do not always point towards the same outcome. Conservation, particularly in a landscape as vast and socially complex as the Kruger National Park, is rarely an exercise in certainty or simple moral choices.
Yet complexity, important though it is, cannot become a substitute for accountability.

My previous article did not question whether conservation managers occasionally encounter situations in which the destruction of an elephant may be unavoidable. Nor did it suggest that every one of the 207 elephants recorded in SANParks' mortality database as "Management" deaths was necessarily killed without justification. Such a conclusion would itself be irresponsible because the evidence required to make that judgement has not been placed in the public domain.

That, however, is precisely the point.

The question I asked was not whether elephant management is difficult.

It was whether a public institution exercising lethal authority over protected wildlife has adequately explained why it deliberately killed each one of those 207 elephants.

Four months after a formal request submitted under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), the answer remains no.

SANParks has disclosed the mortality database, but not the evidential basis upon which each of those decisions rested.”

The debate surrounding 951 elephant deaths in the Kruger National Park has largely become a discussion about conservation science. It should instead be a discussion about public accountability, the ethical limits of state authority over wildlife, and why every deliberate killing of a wild elephant demands individual justification.

06/08/2026

Beyond Sustainable Use: Why CITES Needs a New Theory of Change

Introduction

The publication of A theory of change for CITES by Challender et al. represents an attempt to articulate how the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is expected to deliver conservation outcomes. By identifying the assumptions, causal pathways and institutional mechanisms underpinning the Convention, the authors seek to provide a framework through which CITES implementation and effectiveness can be better understood.

Yet the value of any Theory of Change ultimately depends on the validity of its underlying premises. A coherent framework built upon questionable assumptions remains fundamentally flawed.

The central limitation of the proposed Theory of Change is not that its logic is internally inconsistent. Rather, it is that the paper begins from a premise that is rarely interrogated: namely, that the continued commercial use of wild animals is both legitimate and desirable, provided it is sufficiently well regulated. The question therefore becomes how trade can be managed more effectively, rather than whether trade should remain the organising principle around which international conservation policy is constructed.

This distinction reflects two fundamentally different visions of conservation. One seeks to optimise the governance of wildlife exploitation. The other asks whether the accelerating biodiversity crisis, advances in animal ethics, growing recognition of animal sentience and decades of mixed conservation outcomes require a more fundamental reassessment of the relationship between human societies and wild animals.

From the perspective of the EMS Foundation, it is this second question that has become increasingly urgent.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:

https://emsfoundation.org.za/beyond-sustainable-use-why-cites-needs-a-new-theory-of-change/

04/08/2026

The EMS Foundation built the Overstrand Whale Boxing Club which is situated in Hermanus in the Overstrand.

The EMS Foundation supported the founders of this great boxing club and their members prior to building the new gym premises, when they were operating out of containers on the sports ground in Zwelihwe.

The EMS Foundation continues to support the club and the community who uses the club facilities on a daily basis.

This centre of excellence and safety is where children and students and community members eat together, study together and socialise.

We are extremely proud of the achievements of all the boxers at the club and the commitment of Mzi Damesi.

Overstrand celebrates Simamkele Damesi's Commonwealth Games achievement

Overstrand Executive Mayor, Alderman Archie Klaas, has congratulated Overstrand boxer Simamkele Damesi on representing Team South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

The 20-year-old welterweight from the Overstrand Whale Boxing Club faced Mauritius' Ziggy Agathe, gaining valuable international experience. The contest was stopped after Damesi sustained a cut above his eye.

“While he did not return home with a medal, representing South Africa at the Commonwealth Games is an outstanding achievement. We are super proud of Sima. He has shown our young people that with determination and dedication, dreams can become reality”, Mayor Klaas said.

The Mayor also acknowledged the contribution of Sima's coach (and uncle), Mzi Damesi, founder and head coach of the Overstrand Whale Boxing Club in Zwelihle, who accompanied the team to Glasgow after receiving assistant coach accreditation.

"The Overstrand Whale Boxing Club continues to produce talented young boxers thanks to the hard work of all involved, as well as the support of sponsors and the community. Congratulations to Simamkele and Coach Mzi on reaching this level, and we wish them all the best," he said.

Issued by:
Overstrand Municipal Manager, Dr Dean O’Neill

02/08/2026

CLARIFYING THE PROPOSED DESTRUCTION OF ELEPHANTS AT DINOKENG GAME RESERVE

The purpose of a letter sent the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Deputy Director of Dinokeng Game Reserve is to request certain information regarding the proposed killing of between one and four elephants in Dinokeng Game Reserve (DGR) as damage causing animals.

Furthermore to object to the killing from occurring until it has been shown that all applicable legislation has been complied with and that the killing is a last resort. The basis for this request is set out below.

READ FULL LETTER:

https://emsfoundation.org.za/clarifying-the-proposed-destruction-of-elephants-at-dinokeng-game-reserve/

28/07/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | 28 JULY 2026

COURT ORDER SECURES INTERIM LIMITS ON AVERSIVE BABOON-MANAGEMENT IN BETTY’S BAY⚖️

EMS Foundation welcomes an enforceable interim arrangement while Overstrand Municipality reviews and publishes its amended Strategic Baboon Management Plan.

The Western Cape High Court on 27 July 2026 made an order, by agreement between the EMS Foundation and Overstrand Municipality, regulating the active management of the Betty’s Bay baboon troop while the Municipality reviews its Strategic Baboon Management Plan (SBMP). CapeNature, the permitting authority, and the NSPCA, both cited as respondents in the litigation, did not oppose the relief sought in Part A, each having delivered a Notice to Abide.

The order provides meaningful interim protection while preserving the Municipality’s ability to respond to genuine threats. It also creates an opportunity for the future of baboon management in the Overstrand to be reconsidered on a more transparent, evidence-led and humane basis.

EMS did not approach the Court as a first resort. Since December 2022, the Foundation has repeatedly sought constructive engagement with the relevant authorities about the Overstrand’s baboon-management system. On 4 June 2026, EMS’s attorneys addressed a formal letter of demand to CapeNature and the Municipality. The application followed written confirmation by the Municipality’s own officials that procurement was under way to extend the full weapons-based suite, including paintball markers, to Betty’s Bay from July 2026; four days after the application was served, the Municipality published a three-year tender for baboon-management equipment closing 31 July 2026. When no satisfactory resolution was secured, EMS instituted the proceedings.

⚖️What the order provides
Pending finalisation of the Municipality’s SBMP review (inclusive of a public participation process), the existing active-management status quo for the Betty’s Bay troop will continue, including the use of gel blasters.
The Municipality has undertaken not to use any additional tools available to it under the SBMP – including paintball markers, pepper balls or pepper spray, bear bangers, strobe lights, water cannons, artificial light, drones or night operations – in Betty’s Bay, whether under its current CapeNature permits or any successive permits.

The order permits the use of an otherwise restricted authorised tool only where it is reasonably necessary to avert an imminent or actual threat of harm to persons, property, pets or baboons in Betty’s Bay.
The substantive review proceedings in Part B are postponed pending the Municipality’s review and publication of the amended SBMP. They have not been withdrawn. Costs remain reserved.

Any party may seek a variation or discharge of the order on good cause and on at least five court days’ written notice.

“An animal does not cease to matter because it crosses an invisible line into a town. The real question is not whether baboons should be managed, but whether public authorities manage sentient wildlife lawfully, humanely, transparently and on the best available evidence.”

⚖️ A careful and honest reading of the outcome
The order is an interim consent order. It does not determine the merits of the parties’ competing positions, and the Court did not declare any management method lawful or unlawful. The EMS Foundation’s acceptance of the interim arrangement should also not be understood as an endorsement of gel blasters or of the existing management system. EMS continues to have grave concerns about the welfare, ecological and governance consequences of aversive management.

EMS accepted a practical interim arrangement that immediately limits the routine deployment of a far wider suite of aversive “tools” while the foundational municipal strategy is reconsidered.

⚖️The review must be meaningful
The SBMP review should not become a paper exercise that leaves existing operational assumptions untouched. It should examine the methods by which the strategy is implemented, the evidence of their effects, the cumulative impact on baboon troops and communities, and the availability of less harmful alternatives.

Chacma baboons are intelligent, sentient primates that perform important ecological functions, including seed dispersal and nutrient cycling. They should not be treated merely as mobile nuisances at the urban edge.

Management must account for troop behaviour and social structure, habitat, historic ranging areas and movement corridors, as well as the human decisions that shape the urban-wildland interface.

For EMS, humane coexistence requires more than changing the management methodologies. It requires attention to waste and other attractants, land-use planning, ecological connectivity, community education, reliable incident data, independent expertise, animal well-being and meaningful participation by affected communities. Properly designed community-based monitoring can complement specialist research and help test whether management measures are working in practice.

Residents and visitors also share responsibility for coexistence. Securing homes, food sources and waste against baboon access, and avoiding feeding, reduces preventable conflict. No person should resort to unlawful action against baboons.

⚖️Why the existing model must be reconsidered
EMS’s case, supported by residents’ accounts and observations, raises serious concerns about the operation of the Adaptive Baboon Management Plan in Pringle Bay since May 2024. After more than two years, residents report that it has not achieved its stated objective of keeping baboons out of the urban area. EMS contends that the plan was not adequately grounded in research into troop behaviour and social dynamics, local ecology, natural foraging resources, historic ranging areas and essential movement corridors.

Residents’ observations further raise concern that the routine use of aversive “tools”, including paintball markers and bear bangers, may scatter troops and cause baboons to seek cover deeper within residential areas, potentially increasing opportunistic foraging and difficult encounters. Residents have also reported municipal personnel entering private properties without consent, while some residents and visitors have expressed alarm at the visible deployment of weapon-like devices in residential spaces.

Incidents involving the fatal shooting of baboons by members of the public have been reported in Pringle Bay, Betty’s Bay and Hermanus. EMS does not suggest that the Municipality carried out those shootings. Its concern is that a confrontational management environment may heighten fear, deepen intolerance and encourage unlawful individual responses. The disputed questions of cause and effect have not been finally determined by the Court; they are precisely the kind of questions that require independent scrutiny during the SBMP review.

A practical alternative for people, wildlife and the Western Cape Public debate about baboons has become deeply polarised. Some residents demand more forceful intervention; others strongly oppose aversive management. Politicians are repeatedly pressed to choose a side. But baboon management is not, and should never become, a popularity contest. The responsibility of government is to adopt a lawful, effective and evidence-led approach that protects people and property while respecting the well-being and ecological role of baboons.

Importantly, there is another way forward. A modern coexistence programme combines professionally trained and locally recruited field teams; early-warning and rapid-response services; practical support for household and municipal baboon-proofing; effective waste and attractant management; community education; ecological monitoring; veterinary and welfare capacity; protection of movement corridors; and transparent reporting against measurable outcomes. This is consistent with international best-practice principles, which favour integrated prevention, mitigation, response, research and monitoring developed with affected communities.

Such a programme has the potential to create meaningful local jobs and specialist skills while reducing risks to residents, visitors and baboons. It offers political leaders a route beyond a divisive and ultimately unproductive choice between competing community factions. Humane, compassionate, professional management can serve the shared interests of residents with very different views, and could establish the Western Cape as a leading example of innovative and compassionate urban-wildlife coexistence.

The Municipality has publicly committed itself to reviewing the SBMP. EMS will engage constructively with that process and will assess the amended plan when it is published. The Foundation reserves all its rights in the pending proceedings.

The EMS Foundation thanks the residents, community organisations, specialists and legal representatives whose work has kept the welfare of the Overstrand’s baboons, and the quality of public decision-making, firmly in view.


- ENDS -


https://emsfoundation.org.za/court-order-secures-interim-limits-on-aversive-baboon-management-in-bettys-bay/