“World’s Loneliest Elephant” Arrives In Cambodia For His New Life In Sanctuary Home
The 33-year-old elephant has been held alone in Islamabad Zoo with no companion for nearly ten years. Now he begins his new life at a sanctuary in Cambodia.
Kaavan the elephant in his cargo crate. Credit: Four Paws/Hristo Vladev
The “world’s loneliest elephant” is finally experiencing freedom for the first time after spending decades in solitary confinement at a substandard zoo in Pakistan.
The 33-year-old elephant, named Kaavan, has arrived in a sanctuary in Cambodia, where he will finally be able to interact with other elephants and receive the proper care he needs.
His rescue required months of preparation, with the process complicated by COVID-19 restrictions, as well as the seven-hour flight that Kaavan had to prepare for by being taught to enter a cargo crate.
Now, thanks to the efforts of groups including Austria-based Four Paws and superstar Cher’s Free The Wild, Kaavan will live out the rest of his life in peace among an elephant herd at Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary.
Kaavan touching trunks with a fellow elephant after arriving at his new sanctuary home, Credit: Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary
Kaavan had originally arrived in Pakistan at just one-years-old back in 1985, having been sent as a ‘gift’ from the Sri Lankan government to the country’s then-leader. Kept in captivity, Kaavan grew increasingly violent and was forced into chains by 2002, reports The Guardian.
Campaigners later dubbed Kaavan as one of the world’s loneliest elephants: his only elephant companion, Saheli, died in 2012, which left Kaavan alone in his small and desolate enclosure for the last decade.
His right to freedom was granted earlier this year, when the Islamabad High Court in Pakistan specifically ordered for Kaavan to be released from his solitary confinement at Islamabad Zoo and sent to a sanctuary. The court case has become a landmark ruling for its championing of the legal rights of nonhuman animals around the world. During the ruling, the high courts’ Chief Justice Athar Minallah, told the court: “do … animals have legal rights? The answer to this question, without any hesitation, is in the affirmative.”
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