It’s been a big week for Kavaan the ‘loneliest elephant’. After spending decades living in poor conditions in a Pakistan zoo, he’s reached the lush sanctuary where he’ll spend the rest of his days. And he’s already made a a new buddy.
Earlier this year, GNN reported that Kavaan was ordered by Pakistan's High Court to be freed from Islamabad's Murghazar Zoo, which is in the process of being permanently shut down. There were many groups and people fighting for the elephant's release, including, most famously, Cher, who celebrated Kavaan's win, tweeting, "THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST MOMENTS OF MY LIFE."
Since that May ruling, the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) has been working behind the scenes to find the lonely elephant an ideal home. They found the perfect site in Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary. In a rescue led by the animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS, alongside IWMB and Cher's Free The Wild organization, veterinarians and elephant experts have been busy preparing Kaavan for his departure to a new location.
For quite a long time, the group has been assisting Kavaan with figuring out how to make a calm section and exit into and out of an air-shipment carton. Given the male elephant weighs 4.35 tons, that has been no simple errand. This weekend, however, Kavaan was at long last prepared for his takeoff. With a military escort, the pachyderm was taken to Islamabad International Airport and onto a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 airplane. After a visit in India, he made the 10-hour trip to another nation, showing up at Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital of Siem Reap on Monday. Since he's been there?
Kaavan has left his vehicle container and delighted in a warm greeting with a nut cake and a banana tree leaves trail made only for him. Following eight years with no creature companions, he's made his first joining with another elephant. He's met perhaps the greatest ally. That'd be Cher, who tweeted that she sang to loosen up him. In around a month, Kavaan will be acquainted with three female elephants, and he'll have 25,000 sections of land to meander in. That is a region 50,000x greater than the zoo walled in area he was bound to until the court administering helped set him free. With Kaavan's long stretches of separation at last at an end, FOUR PAWS says he'll at last get the opportunity to live an animal groups suitable and tranquil life.