Samba betrayed: France's last circus elephant sent to Hungary, to a new prison
While France has voted to end the presence of wild animals in circuses by 2028, Samba, an elephant captured in Kenya and exploited for nearly forty years, has just been sent to Hungary to a so-called “Safari Park” that is nothing more than a circus. This transfer is scandalous, given that we have been offering for years to take Samba into our care and allow her to join a sanctuary. It is a betrayal and an unbearable insult to the animal cause.
We are angry. Deeply outraged. Samba, the last elephant held in a French circus, has just been transferred… not to a sanctuary, but to a Hungarian circus disguised as a “safari park”, the Richter Safari Park. A place that barely hides its activities of car rides among stressed animals, training shows, and forced interactions with the public.
After more than twenty years of campaigning, dozens of complaints filed, and a political commitment to end the use of wild animals in circuses by 2028, how is it possible that the authorities have not noticed anything?
A life stolen since childhood
Born free in Kenya thirty-seven years ago, Samba was captured when she was still a baby. Torn from her family and forcibly taken to a new continent, she ended up at the Continental Circus run by the Aucante family in France. There, for more than three decades, she was chained, trained, exploited, and abused.
We first crossed paths with her in 2002. During “shows”, Samba was forced to simulate her own death to the sound of gunshots. In 2003, she sent her first public distress signal: she refused to perform this “act”. She was then beaten by her trainer in front of children. He only stopped after their pleas. This event was the first trigger in a long series of complaints that One Voice filed on Samba’s behalf. More than a dozen. The last ones date from last year, when we managed to track her down.
One Voice’s campaign to raise awareness of Samba’s suffering gained so much momentum that the Continental Circus changed its name to Cirque d’Europe and renamed Samba “Tania” to cover its tracks and try to hide the tragic truth.
In 2013, in yet another display of distress, Samba escaped when her tormentor forgot to chain her up as he usually did. In her desperate flight, she collided with a man who tragically died. But what did the government do? Nothing. It didn’t say a word about her suffering. Not a single gesture in favor of her rehabilitation. On the contrary: Samba was brought back to the circus. Her trainer was even acquitted.
The state refused our sanctuary proposal
Over the years, we saw her condition deteriorate but never gave up. A place in a sanctuary awaited her. A park covering several hectares just for her and another elephant her age. We were ready to take care of her transfer and finance her veterinary care for the rest of her life. We said so and repeated it. However, Samba was sent to Hungary. To a circus that claims to be a park but continues to exploit animals as objects of spectacle and attraction.
Where is the consistency with the law banning wild animals in circuses in 2028? With three years to go before this deadline, an elephant is being handed over to a foreign circus when she could finally know peace. To add insult to injury, the ministry is also planning to allow elephants to be brought in from abroad! This is further proof of the state’s unwavering support for circuses, just a few months after announcing massive financial support for circus performers.
We demand that the truth be told about the circumstances surrounding her transfer. Samba is not an object. She is a living, sentient being, broken by decades of enslavement. She deserves justice. She deserves a real life. We are preparing a complaint against her trainer and are asking the authorities to shed light on the circumstances surrounding Samba’s “disappearance” from French territory.