A GROUP campaigning for an elephant that was given a new home at Longleat after being rescued from the circus to have a companion campaigned outside the safari park on Sunday.

Anne, who moved to Longleat in 2011, has lived on her own for five years in solitary confinement and the group ‘Anne Needs Elephants’ feels it is about time she has a fellow friend in her luxury pad, known as Anne's Haven.

Members from the group handed out leaflets outside Longleat on Sunday to raise awareness among the attraction’s visitors.

Joe Cuddy, one of the group’s administrators, said: “Anne arrived at Longleat in a bad condition. Longleat has done a good job improving her health in some ways but she’s desperate for a companion.

“She has been very alone for five years. She’s a very intelligent elephant who deserves to have a companion. Elderly people don’t have to suffer alone, it should be no different for animals.

“The haven she is kept in can house up to five elephants yet she is the only one in there. She deserves a proper retirement. It simply isn’t good for anyone to be kept in solitary confinement.

“When there are big events at Longleat, such as the Elton John concert, the animals must be terrified – especially animals who are on their own, such as Anne.

“We want to highlight this to the public and we want Longleat to honour its commitment to looking after Anne."

The group has identified an elephant in Blackpool, named Kate, who is in a similar position to Anne and would make a suitable companion.

A Longleat spokesman said: “We took in Anne as an emergency to remove her from a severe situation where her welfare was severely compromised. This was a high profile case and the elements of her former life were widely reported in the media.

“Following her arrival at Longleat we have looked at all the options available to her including building an Elephant Sanctuary here at Longleat for other elephants like Anne, looking at options for moving her to existing elephant sanctuaries in the USA or other facilities in Europe, or simply providing for her own needs as a single elephant.

“This has been an ongoing process and culminated in a thorough review back in February 2014 where we hosted a two day meeting of global elephant experts from a wide range of backgrounds including elephant management, sanctuary operators, behaviourists and elephant welfare specialists that provided the best culminated expert knowledge to assist in our decision making process.

“We acknowledge that the decision to potentially maintain Anne on her own is a challenging decision and that people perceive this to be opposite to what is potentially the best thing for Anne.

"However, consideration and opinion is based on knowledge extrapolated from generic elephants natural history rather than considering Anne as an individual or in some cases based on no knowledge at all and just opinion or “I reckon” with no factual basis to the opinions voiced. We recognise that some people will never be satisfied with this decision.

“We are extremely confident that Anne's care and surroundings are what's best for her. Although some decisions we make may not be popular with some, we know that they are right for her and her very specific needs.

“Our rationale for this decision will never satisfy everyone but this difficult decision has been weighed, with Anne’s physical condition being of primary concern, and discussed at length with many internal and external stakeholders and we believe firmly that it is the right decision for Anne in her current physical situation.

"We also would like to highlight that this decision is not in stone and is reviewed regularly, especially when other elephants of a suitable age and temperament that require rescuing or rehoming come to our attention.

"We can say for definite that Anne simply does not have the physical capacity to be moved and she will end her days at Longleat."