Why I donate to Free bunka
Appalled at the conditions Bunka, a lone bull elephant, is living in at Yerevan Zoo in Armenia, travel writer Mark Stratton co-founded the Free Bunka campaign to try and secure his release and improve his well-being.
Helping Rhinos
This is a feature from Issue 21 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.
My journey as co-founder of an elephant welfare campaign called Free Bunka began when working in Armenia in the depths of winter 2021. It was around -12ºC when I had a free day and took myself to Yerevan Zoo. I dislike zoos, yet had heard from the organisation, Born Free, about a lone bull elephant at the zoo. I decided to visit him to check his condition. His name is Bunka.
Upon reaching the zoo, an ugly facility housing some of its animals in heartbreakingly cramped cages, I headed to Bunka’s small, stimulation-free concrete enclosure. There was thick snow on the ground, and Bunka ambled out of a depressingly dark barn, where in winter he spends 16 hours each day locked inside, shuffling around in circles. He listlessly trudged over to me bearing a haunted hollow-eyed look and just stared with bloodshot eyes.
He’d been moved to Yerevan Zoo aged six in 2014; taken from his mother in another miserable zoo in Georgia and is now in his 10th year of solitary captivity. Keeping elephants in solitary captivity even contravenes the appallingly low zoo industry standards they have for these sentient creatures. To the contrary, modern science suggests for their mental wellbeing elephants need huge territories and the ability to forage for their own food. They do not flourish in any form of captivity and are subject to illness and premature death.
I had to try to do something for him, thus with a fellow elephant supporter, launched Friends of Bunka in early 2022. Our aim is to free Bunka from Yerevan Zoo and secure for him a better life in one of a growing number of elephant sanctuaries. We also raise awareness of the plight of endangered Asian elephants. As few as 50,000 of them remain, with over 50% of those existing in grim captivity, in zoos, circuses, or riding camps.
We started the campaign by launching a change.org petition calling for his release. To date, we have garnered the support of 85,000 signatures globally. We quickly negotiated with a sanctuary in Cambodia (where Bunka’s bloodline likely comes from) to take him in after securing his release.
After months of negotiation Yerevan Zoo agreed to an independent inspection of him, funded by us and carried out by three renowned experts. The report, published in of February 2023, found Bunka suffering both physical deprivation and psychological stress. He was noted to have a malnourished frame and exhibit a repetitive stress behaviour called stereotyping.
To date, the zoo is ignoring all recommendations. The evidence has been placed in front of them, yet they choose not to act. Meanwhile, Bunka continues to suffer. We are currently planning a new push to raise better awareness inside Armenia of his plight. We cannot stop on this journey to free him and raise awareness of how captivity represents outright animal abuse of this intelligent, gentle species. Typically, captive male elephants live short lives – on average, just 15 years. This year Bunka will be 17. His time may be limited so we must keep donating our time to free him before it’s too late.
How you can help
Support the campaign by signing the petition here.
Visit www.freebunka.com for information or follow @FreeBunka on X (formerly Twitter) for updates.
This is a feature from Issue 21 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.
by net effect