Image from Urdu News
An elephant described as the “world’s loneliest” has landed in Cambodia after a seven-hour flight from Pakistan. Kaavan, an overweight, 36-year-old bull elephant, is finally being moved from an Islamabad zoo accused of substandard care and conditions after years of uproar. His cause was boosted by a social media campaign from Cher, a popular musical artist, who traveled to Pakistan to see him off. “He’s going to be really happy here,” stated Cher, saying she was hopeful his ordeal was now over.
Kaavan’s much-anticipated journey was “uneventful”, said Amir Khalil, a veterinarian from the animal welfare group Four Paws. “Kaavan was eating, was not stressed – he was even a little bit sleeping, standing, leaning at the crate wall,” he said. Kaavan will be transported from Siem Reap to the neighboring province of Oddar Meanchey, to a wildlife sanctuary with about 600 other elephants.
A team of vets and experts from the Austria-based Four Paws spent months working with Kaavan to get him ready for the trip. The elephant also had to be taught to enter the massive metal crate that was placed in a cargo plane for the seven-hour flight. Four Paws, along with Islamabad authorities, also safely moved three wolves and some monkeys from the offending zoo. Only two Himalayan brown bears, one deer and one monkey remain.
