National Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa, 2023 (GoN. 3010 of 2023).

These Norms and Standards comprising 31 articles and VI Annexes aim to ensure that (i) elephants are managed in a way that (a) ensures their long-term survival within current or future ecosystems; (b) promotes broader ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable biodiversity and goals; (c) does not disrupt the ecological integrity of their ecosystems; (d) enables specific management objectives of properties where they occur; (e) ensures their sustainable consumptive and non-consumptive use; (f) ensures their well-being and biologically healthy populations; (g) recognizes the necessary and persistent interplay between ethics, elephant well-being and conservation, and human well-being; (h) recognizes their sentient nature, highly organized social structure, and ability to communicate; (ii) the management of elephants is regulated in a way that is uniform across the Republic and takes into account the Republic's international obligations under binding international agreements on biodiversity management, and in accordance with national policies on biodiversity management and ecologically sustainable development. These Norms and Standards apply to all elephant management within the Republic, covering both wild and captive elephants.
This document outlines comprehensive regulations for elephant management across 5key parts (1) Part 1 establishes general provisions, requiring a permit and an approved management plan for any restricted elephant activity. It restricts the introduction of wild elephants into controlled environments, specifies permitted keeping scenarios, and mandates detailed, specialist-assisted management plans with regular reviews. This section also encompasses a broad range of duties, including veterinary treatment, safety, neglect prevention, and impact reporting. It sets standards for enclosures, administration of scheduled substances, wild elephant capture, and translocation, import, and export, along with requirements for release camps; (2) Part 2 focuses on wild elephant population management, emphasizing respect for their social structure and the introduction of older bulls to areas with juvenile males. It details various options for managing population size, composition, growth, or spatial distribution, including contraception, range manipulation, translocation, introduction, and hunting. It also outlines requirements for establishing new wild elephant populations, including habitat assessment and enclosure standards, and provides specific rules for contraception and range manipulation; (3) Part 3 addresses elephant hunting, permitting it only for solitary males or damage-causing animals in adherence to TOPS Regulations and specific norms. Hunting is forbidden near social units, and collared elephants should ideally not be hunted. A registered professional hunter must supervise client hunts. Prohibited methods include driving elephants, hunting near waterholes, using pitfalls, or employing specific rifle calibres, non-solid bullets, or solid bullets weighing less than 286 grains; (4) Part 4 covers elephants in controlled environments, setting minimum standards for captive elephants, allowing their keeping only if previously permitted or naturally born in captivity. All captive elephants must have two internal microchips and an identikit system, with responsible persons obligated to report relevant data. Keeping captive elephants also necessitates a dedicated team of trained handlers. Captive facilities must be registered, maintain a stud book, and comply with all pertinent rules and policies. The document also sets out rules for contraception for female elephants, managing aggressive behavior in adult male bulls, and general population control; (5) Part 5 outlines responsibilities for managing escaped or roaming elephants. For escaped elephants, the responsible person must manage the situation, including applying for permits to capture, return, hunt, or destroy the animal with landowner approval. The provincial conservation authority may intervene if the elephant poses an immediate threat, causes damage, or if other parties fail to act. For roaming elephants of unknown origin, the provincial conservation authority or the landowner is responsible. Landowners must report such elephants within 24 hours and can apply for permits to capture, keep, hunt, or destroy them, or request the authority to take responsibility.