Europe's first large-scale elephant sanctuary has opened in Portugal, offering a more natural environment for captive elephants. The sanctuary, run by the animal charity Pangea, is located in the Alentejo region, 200km east of Lisbon near the Spanish border.
The first arrivals will be Julie, Portugal's last circus elephant, and Kariba, a female African elephant from a Belgian zoo where she lived alone. Both are in their 40s and were captured in the wild in the 1980s. They will be moved to the sanctuary, which initially covers 28 hectares of a former cattle ranch, with plans to expand to 405 hectares.
Kate Moore, Pangea's managing director, said the elephants will have an expansive natural habitat where they can roam freely, bathe and socialise. The sanctuary is not open to the public and focuses on providing as natural a life as possible. Across Europe, 36 elephants live in solitary confinement in zoos, and about 40 are still used in circuses.
The use of wild animals in circuses is banned in most EU countries, but many circuses struggle to rehome elephants due to a lack of sanctuary spaces. In Portugal, a ban came into full effect in 2025, with Julie being the last wild animal rehomed after an agreement between the Cardinali circus and Pangea.
The sanctuary took 10 years to develop and also aims to restore nature on the degraded ranch. The region was once home to straight-tusked elephants that roamed the Iberian peninsula 40,000 years ago.
