Lanka is a female Asian elephant kept alone at the small zoo on the island of Veliki Brijun, which is part of the Brijuni National Park in Croatia.
Lanka, Brijuni National Park Zoo, Croatia, May 2019 © C Mvula
In 1974, 2-year-old Lanka was gifted by the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and presented to former Yugoslav President Tito, who had created a private zoo on the island. Lanka was sent the 4,000 miles from India to Croatia, where she joined a 4-year-old male elephant named Sony, who had also been gifted by India a few years previously.
Following President Tito’s death in 1980, the zoo, which was now going by the name of ‘Safari Park, Brijuni’, remained on the island. However, there is little publicly available information providing details of the conditions in which Lanka and Sony were kept, though many of the animals were reportedly maintained in small concrete-floored cages.
Lanka at Brjuni National Park, Croatia, 2019 © RTRF
In 2000, there were reportedly plans to turn Brijuni into a ‘top residential and tourist resort’ with no place for the zoo animals. Later that year, Lanka and Sony were sold to an Austrian circus owner named Anton Gärtner. However, Lanka and Sony were reportedly subjected to abuse, beatings and manhandling by Gärtner. During an attempt to load them for transport, it was reported that one elephant even fell through the floor of the vehicle. Following action by a group of local journalists and activists to try and save Lanka and Sony, their sale to the circus was cancelled, and they remained at the zoo.
In 2006, an emergency appeal was launched after the zoo reportedly couldn’t afford to feed the elephants. Many individuals, including Croatian celebrities, donated money to help fund the 100kg of hay and 50kg of fruit and vegetables required each day.
In April 2010, Sony died, aged 40, reportedly from a cardiac arrest. After 36 years together at the zoo, Lanka was now alone. As elephants are such complex, social animals, whose natural biology and behaviour is based on living within closely bonded matriarchal herds, Lanka’s situation is both sad and unacceptable.
Lanka at Brjuni National Park, Croatia, 2019 © RTRF
Concerns for Lanka’s welfare continue to be raised with many visitors to the island over the years shocked to find her alone in a small enclosure. Reports frequently mention her appearing to sway back and forth or just standing, with little to enrich her life.
In 2019, a compassionate appeal was made to the Croatian authorities by animal welfare groups, including Born Free, with an offer to fund and assist with the rehoming of Lanka, then aged 47, to an elephant sanctuary that could provide her with specialist care, increased space, and the potential for companionship of other elephants. Sadly, this offer was rejected.
The results of a publicly available veterinary inspection, reportedly carried out in July 2019, stated that Lanka’s care and living conditions were deemed satisfactory. However, the report acknowledged that captivity cannot meet the biological needs of wild animals in the same way as natural habitats. In August 2021, following numerous enquiries from ‘activists and animal protection associations’, the Brijuni National Park Public Institution announced its plans to provide Lanka with a ‘better and more luxurious living space’. They also launched a public appeal for donations to help fund the cost of the improvements. From video footage posted on Brijuni National Park’s Facebook page in August 2024, marking Lanka’s 52nd birthday, the extent to which the promised improvements had been made remain unclear.
Regardless of any changes to her enclosure or management, Lanka remains without the companionship of other elephants.
2026 marked the 16th anniversary of Lanka’s solitude at Safari Park, Brijuni.
