For forty years, Julie performed. Now, finally, she gets to just be an elephant.
A lifetime in the spotlight
Julie’s story begins in Africa in the late 1980s, when she was captured as a calf and brought to Portugal. She spent the decades that followed performing in circuses — the last elephant in the country still doing so.
That chapter closed on June 30th, when Julie made a three-hour truck journey from the Víctor Hugo Cardinali circus grounds to something she had never known before: a place built entirely for her.
A sanctuary built with her in mind
The Pangea Elephant Sanctuary in Alentejo is the first facility of its kind in Europe — 1,000 acres of open land, eventually intended to house between 20 and 35 elephants. When the sanctuary reached out to Julie’s former owner, the timing was right. Portugal had passed a law in 2018 banning wild animal performances by 2024, and Julie had nowhere to go.
Pangea stepped in. And for the eighteen months the sanctuary was still being built, its team was already planning Julie’s arrival.
She was always going to be the first.
“There couldn’t be a more fitting first resident than Portugal’s last circus elephant,” said managing director Kate Moore. “Our focus is now to give Julie the best possible quality of life in her time ahead.”
Settling in
By all accounts, Julie took to her new home immediately. One thousand acres of Alentejo landscape, a watering hole to explore, and no performance scheduled — ever again.
A primary school in England even stepped up to sponsor her before the move, offering a donation to adopt Julie as the sanctuary’s first resident.
More company on the way
Julie won’t be alone for long. Later this year, she is expected to be joined by Kariba — another wild-caught African elephant now living alone at a zoo in Belgium, and roughly the same age as Julie.
Two elephants. One sanctuary. And all the time in the world.
After everything they’ve been through, they’ve earned it.