The last three elephants still in a traditional South African zoo entered their enclosure in single file, fruit and vegetables scattered on the ground to encourage natural foraging.
For visitors to the popular Johannesburg Zoo, it was a chance to see Africa's largest land animal in real life.
But for animal welfare campaigners, it is a scene of cruelty that they have petitioned the courts to end by ordering the trio's release into a rewilding sanctuary.
In a case supported by international elephant experts, the campaigners told a court in May that observation showed that Lammie, aged 47, Ramadiba, 28, and Mopane, 26, were distressed and depressed.
"These elephants are highly intelligent, socially complex and sentient beings who are living in conditions that are damaging to their well-being, and who are, as a result, in a state of distress," said the three parties behind the case.
The court should "authorise their immediate release to a suitable sanctuary... where they can rehabilitate", they argued.
Judgment is expected in the coming weeks, said Megan Carr, senior researcher at the EMS Foundation that is part of the application.
Carr told AFP the three elephants were the only ones remaining in an urban zoo environment on the entire continent.
"They are the last three elephants showcased within an exhibition in a traditional zoo-type setting in South Africa and Africa," she said.
The legal bid for their freedom follows campaigners' success in having a 42-year-old elephant released from the national zoo in Pretoria and into a private reserve in 2024, after years of negotiation with the South African government.
The animal had spent 40 years at the facility.
When an AFP team visited Johannesburg Zoo, a group of small children pressed towards a viewing area shouting, "Elephant! Elephant!" as the three animals shuffled around their enclosure.
Lammie, focused only on the food, was born at the zoo, one of a handful in South Africa and among a plethora of state-run and private animal sanctuaries or game reserves. Ramadiba and Mopane arrived in 2019.
The trio are well cared for and had recently been given a clean bill of health, said Johannesburg city parks spokeswoman Jenny Moodley.
The facility could accommodate up to five elephants, and two keepers were dedicated to each animal, with food hidden around the enclosure to encourage foraging and walking, said an official not authorised to speak to the media.
Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo does not want the trio freed, saying they are suited to captive life, especially Lammie, who has never lived elsewhere.
Should they be relocated, the zoo would not be able to offer important research and education possibilities to the public, managing director Thanduxolo Mendrew said in papers for the court case, which was launched after negotiations failed.
Having the animals among the zoo's offerings allowed school children, especially from poorer backgrounds, to see them live, he said.
Carr responded: "Why would you show your child a compromised elephant when it is much easier for them to look at elephants on a video or a TV programme?"
"They need a vast amount of space in order to remain healthy and fit, and no enclosure is able to offer that to an elephant."
The elephants share two holding bomas or enclosures at night, each measuring 160 square metres (1,700 square feet), smaller than an average tennis court, according to campaigners.
During the day, they are allowed to roam in an unshaded enclosure several times larger, around the size of a football pitch.
South Africa is home to about 44,000 African savannah elephants, about 6,000 owned privately or by communities, the government said in August last year.
jc/br/phz/lga
