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For years, Kari and Gary Johnson operated Have Trunk Will Travel, a traveling exhibit that supplied elephants for Hollywood productions and other events. The Johnsons were caught on camera brutally beating elephants with sharp, steel-tipped weapons called bullhooks, and when California banned the cruel devices, they moved to Texas and rebranded as “The Preserve,” a roadside zoo that peddles dangerous hands-on interactions with elephants and forces them to perform circus-style tricks.
After two elephants died within months of each other at The Preserve, three remained: Becky, Kitty, and Rosie. But in late 2024, The Preserve acquired a fourth elephant from the notorious elephant abusers at Carson & Barnes Circus. That elephant, also named Becky, was used in circuses for decades. PETA once documented Carson & Barnes’ head trainer viciously attacking her with a bullhook until she screamed in pain. The Preserve has renamed her Sophie, but she’s inexplicably not included on the facility’s tour.
Is she kept in chains in a barn? Has her health declined so far that they don’t want the public to see her? We don’t know, but we’re concerned The Preserve is hiding something. Where is Sophie?
It’s too late for some elephants, but The Preserve can still give the remaining elephants—Becky, Kitty, Rosie, and now, Sophie—a retirement at an accredited sanctuary where they would have the freedom to roam, forage, socialize, and play on their own terms. Please send a message to Kari and Gary Johnson, urging them to let these elephants truly retire from a lifetime of performing for human entertainment.