The elephant, named Charlie, was captured in 1984 from Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park when he was two years old. He was taken to Boswell Wilkie Circus in South Africa and trained to perform tricks.

Hwange National Park is home to the second-largest elephant population in a single national park (about 45 000), following Botswana’s Chobe National Park (about 50 000). The elephants roam in ...