Gary Johnson
Gary Johnson is the owner of Have Trunk Will Travel, a California-based Asian elephant breeding facility. With 30 years of experience, Johnson and his wife Kari are the most successful private owners of Asian elephants in North America and can take credit for most of the Asian elephant work currently seen in North American television and movies. Mr. Johnson is well respected for his involvement in California animal welfare issues and has served on the AZA Elephant Task Force. Johnson’s herd of Asian elephants increased by two in 1998 with the birth of a male and female elephant fathered by a bull in Canada, demonstrating the success of transporting females for natural breeding. Another baby elephant was sired by Tusko, the Johnson’s bull, in 2005. One female owned by Gary and Kari is currently pregnant through artificial insemination.