Cher escorts ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ to new home after she helped save him from 35 years in chains at Pakistan zoo
SINGER Cher has traveled to Pakistan to accompany the “world’s loneliest elephant” from a zoo in the country to a sanctuary in Cambodia.
The elephant, named Kaavan, became the focus of a campaign by animal rights activists amid concerns about the conditions in which he was being kept.
Kaavan is set to leave Islamabad Zoo on Sunday for a facility in Cambodia, said Four Paws International, a charity which has led a campaign since 2016.
Video showed Cher, who had publicly backed the campaign, sitting with Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan in the grounds of his residence in Islamabad, Pakistan.
She is reportedly set to visit Kaavan before Sunday and to accompany him, along with staff from Four Paws, to Cambodia while making a documentary about him.
Writing on twitter, the Take Me Home singer, 74, said she had thanked Khan for “making it possible” for her to meet the elephant and that she expected the documentary to be “heartwarming”.
In May, following a decision by Pakistan’s High Court that Kaavan should be moved, she wrote, “I WISH TO THANK THE PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT,” calling it “one of the greatest moments of my life”.
At the same time, the High Court ruled that the zoo should be closed following the case.
Dozens of other animals – including lions, birds and brown bears – are set to temporarily relocate while the zoo improves its standards.
Kaavan, aged 35, was reportedly given to Pakistan as a young calf in 1985 by the government of Sri Lanka, but for years has been kept in chains for the safety of visitors.
In 1990, he did gain a companion, a female called Saheli, but she died of an infection in 2012.
Her body reportedly lay beside Kaavan for several days before being removed.
More recently, Kaavan has been diagnosed by veterinarians as both overweight and malnourished, and also suffers behavioural issues due to his isolation.
Wildlife experts have said he has suffered emotional as well as physical damage because of the conditions in which he has been kept.
A medical examination in September showed Kaavan’s nails were cracked and overgrown after years in which he was kept in an improper enclosure with flooring that damaged his feet.
He has also developed behaviors including shaking his head back and forth for hours, which a team of veterinarians ascribed to boredom.
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For the past three months, a Four Paws team and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board have been readying Kaavan to leave.
Dr. Amir Khalil, veterinarian with Four Paws, first met Kaavan in 2016, and said this was the first time in 30 years that he developed a strong emotional bond with a rescue animal.
“I was always moving, so never allowed myself to develop an emotional attachment, but with Kaavan [I] couldn’t resist,” he said.
