"He's number 12 in our program," the Safari's marketing manager, Lori Latter, said of the robust 235-pound elephant born July 15 as part of the reserve's breeding program, recognized as number one in North America.

"He's a happy little guy," said elephant keeper Mark Matassa as he watched the young calf frolic in the company of his mother, Mali, and grandmother, Targa, at the Elephant Lookout where guests at the facility can see the newest addition and his extended family daily.

"He's very curious and runs around and explores a lot," Matassa added. "He never hollers and he's never afraid. He's just comfortable and happy."

African Lion Safari set up a program for breeding Asian elephants, rather than its bigger African counterpart, because the Asian variety is much more endangered than the African, Matassa said, noting that they have been on the endangered species list since 1976,

"There are less than 40,000 Asian elephants in the wild worldwide," Latter added.

Loss of habitat from encroaching farms and cities are threatening their survival. But facilities like African Lion Safari are doing what they can to perpetuate the species, and in the case of the west Flamborough wildlife park, their efforts have been marked by success.

Now tipping the scales at 260 pounds, Chuck will weigh between 9,000 and 11,000 pounds when he reaches full size in about 25 years. He is the first calf of Mali and the fourth calf of his father, Rex.

Mali, 11 years old, and her mother came to the reserve on loan from the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. The newborn got his name from Chuck Doyle, director of the downtown Syracuse zoo.

Latter said the birth occurred without incident. After a 614-day gestation period, Mali underwent about one-and-a-half to two hours of hard labour before Chuck was born.

"He was walking within an hour and nursing within two," Latter reported.

Both Safari officials agreed that the elephants, which now number 15, are one of the most popular attractions at the drive through wildlife park that is home to over 1,000 birds and animals that roam freely over the 750-acre site.

Among the biggest tourist attractions in the area, African Lion Safari is "weather dependent," Latter conceded, adding that this year's unusually rainy July resulted in attendance dropping by five per cent compared to the same time period last summer. "But if it's a sunny day, we're rocking," she said.

The Civic Holiday weekend was a perfect example of how weather can affect attendance. On Sunday, August 3, Safari Road and other roads leading to the facility experienced high volumes of traffic and, for the first time in the park's 39-year history, the gates had to be shut two hours before closing time because no additional visitors could be accommodated. More than 11,000 people were in the park when officials decided to close the gates at 3:30 p.m.

Civic Holiday Monday also set attendance records, with 10,000 visiting the park.

"Last Wednesday, another nice sunny day, we had over 6,000," Latter said.

While other tourist attractions have noticed that many of their visitors are from area communities, choosing to travel to local attractions because of high fuel prices, Latter said African Lion Safari is a tourist destination and, as such, attracts visitors from outside the immediate area. While "a good portion" of visitors comes from communities within a one-hour radius of the reserve, the facility continues to draw guests outside the two-hour radius as well, she said.

"We're still serving a good number of U.S. visitors from Rochester and Detroit," she said. "People are definitely traveling," even with the high fuel prices and the strains on the American economy, Latter added.