White African Lion

Rocky, with his camera-ready blonde mane, was rescued from a farm in the Free State where he was destined for the bone trade. He has been with our pride since 2019 but for the first eight years of his life, he was kept captive in a small enclosure without a tree in sight. He was overfed and when he arrived at the predator park he weighed close to 350kg.

Today, even after Rocky lost a considerable amount of weight to reach a normal, healthy weight, he still carries the marks of being overweight and the excess skin under his stomach will remain.

Rocky has a big personality and got to work in making Mabalingwe his new home as soon as he arrived, apart from running away from strange creatures that humans call trees for the first few days. Our need to educate people on the bone trade began with Rocky. He is known to sit on the highest rock in his enclosure and look down on the valley below like the king we know he is.