{"id":605668,"date":"2026-07-26T23:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T23:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/605668\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T23:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T23:42:15","slug":"last-circus-elephant-in-portugal-can-now-romp-and-roll-on-1000-acre-sanctuary-after-40-years-of-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/605668\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Circus Elephant in Portugal Can Now Romp-and-Roll on 1000-Acre Sanctuary After 40 Years of Working"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Julie the elephant\u2019s first day at Pangea Elephant Sanctuary in Portugal \u2013 SWNS<\/p>\n

A lazy retirement was bestowed upon the last circus elephant in Portugal who just became a resident of the country\u2019s first sanctuary dedicated to working pachyderms.<\/p>\n

After 40 years of performing, Julie was transported on June 30 from her old circus home to the Pangea Elephant Sanctuary in Alentejo.<\/p>\n

Julie was captured as a calf in Africa during the late-1980s, and brought to Portugal where she began performing in circuses in 1988.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the Portuguese government passed a law to ban wild animal performances by 2024. Julie didn\u2019t have anywhere to go, until Pangea Elephant Sanctuary reached out to her former owner.<\/p>\n

The sanctuary is the first of its kind in Europe, and while it was still being built, they began planned Julie\u2019s move as the first elephant to be welcomed on site.<\/p>\n

18 months later, after a three hour truck ride from the V\u00edctor Hugo Cardinali circus grounds, Julie made herself at home right away. (See the video at the bottom\u2026)<\/p>\n

\"\"Julie arrives at Pangea Elephant Sanctuary in Alentejo, Portugal \u2013 SWNS<\/p>\n

\u201cThere couldn\u2019t be a more fitting first resident than Portugal\u2019s last circus elephant,\u201d said the sanctuary\u2019s managing director, Kate Moore.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus\u202fis\u202fnow to give Julie the\u202fbest possible quality of life in her\u202ftime\u202fahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

INCREDIBLE:<\/strong> New Elephant Ambulance Marks Inaugural Rescue, Bringing 27-year-old to Hospital with Leg Injury (LOOK)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Julie explores a watering hole at Pangea Elephant Sanctuary-SWNS<\/p>\n

The sanctuary spans 1,000 acres and hopes to eventually house 20\u201335 elephants, but has limited occupancy at this stage while they erect more barns and fences.<\/p>\n

Pangea, an independent charity<\/a> registered in the UK and Portugal, was even offered a sponsorship for Julie from an English primary school, which adopted the animal before her move by providing a \u00a3100 donation.<\/p>\n

Julie is expected to be joined later this year by Kariba, another female African elephant that was also wild-caught\u2014and\u202fis now in her 40s like\u202fJulie\u2014and is\u202fcurrently living alone at a zoo in Belgium.<\/p>\n

MORE GOOD NEWS:<\/strong> Acupuncture for Rescued Elephants Provides Relief from Chronic Pain and Nerve Damage in India Care Center<\/a><\/p>\n

WATCH<\/strong> a video from Julie\u2019s journey\u2026<\/p>\n

SHARE THE PACHYDERM PRIDE With Friends On Social Media\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julie the elephant\u2019s first day at Pangea Elephant Sanctuary in Portugal \u2013 SWNS A lazy retirement was bestowed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[273],"tags":[100,3121,20476,18,18108,1015,162289,19,17,6642,133,461,25759],"class_list":["post-605668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-charity","tag-compassion","tag-eire","tag-elephants","tag-europe","tag-humane","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-portugal","tag-science","tag-wildlife","tag-zoos"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116988933480816912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}