Lucky

Lucky was one of the youngest members of a group of elephants, that was relocated from Kruger National Park to the Pongola Game Reserve in 1979.

He was only one year old when he was transported among his family members in huge trucks. When the mighty animals finally got to step into their new territory, Heinz Kohrs, the Founding Trustee of Space for Elephants and his daughter Kristin realised that Lucky was not only the youngest one of the group, but also the only male. Kristin sponaneously called him “Lucky;” and stuck with him ever since then.

When Heike Zitzer, Elephant Monitor & Researcher at White Elephant, got to know him in 2009, he seemed to always appear out of nowhere, which scared her at first. But as she spent more time around him, he turned out as harmless as his name suggests.

In fact, Lucky grew to become a very calm and composed individual. Compared to most other young bulls, he cut the cord to his mother very early on, which lead to him becoming an independent elephant.