Islamabad Zoo’s lone elephant Kavaan arrived in Cambodia on Monday, where he was taken to his new home, a wildlife sanctuary. Cher, who had long campaigned for his release, was on the tarmac at the airport of Cambodia’s second-biggest city Siem Reap to greet Kaavan along with Buddhist monks, who performed rituals on his arrival.
According to details, Kavaan has already made himself at home in Cambodia and can be seen making new friends and socializing with female elephants.
“Kavaan is already socialising with neighbours: beautiful female elephants,” shared Press Officer at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Neth Pheaktra.
Similarly, animal rescue organisation Four Paws shared a beautiful picture of Kavaan interacting with fellow elephants in the sanctuary.
Kavaan was first brought to Pakistan in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka when he was only a year old. Since then he was living at Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad with his partner Saheli, who died in 2012. After Saheli’s death, Kaavan became alone and was dubbed as the world’s loneliest elephant. In 2016 he caught the attention of Cher, who along with other animal rights activists fought a long legal battle for his release and transfer.
He was airlifted from Islamabad to Cambodia in a Russian cargo plane.
“Kaavan was eating, was not stressed, he was even a little bit sleeping, standing leaning at the crate wall. He behaves like a frequent flyer,” said Kavaan’s best friend vet Dr Amir Khalil, while sharing details of his flight.
“The flight was uneventful, which is all you can ask for when you transfer an elephant,” he added.
