Pakistan’s “Loneliest Elephant” Granted Freedom From Zoo In Landmark Ruling
The 33-year-old elephant has been held alone in Islamabad Zoo with no companion for nearly ten years. Now a new legal ruling grants him his freedom.
Credit: Amy Jones / Moving Animals
The Islamabad High Court in Pakistan has made a landmark ruling that champions the legal rights of nonhuman animals, and specifically orders the release to sanctuary for a lonely elephant held in solitary confinement at the Marghazar Zoo.
The 33-year-old elephant, named Kaavan, arrived in Pakistan at just one-years-old, 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 back in 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.
Now after years of campaigning on Kaavan’s behalf, Pakistan’s legal system has ruled that the lonely elephant must be released to a sanctuary. The high courts’ Chief Justice Athar Minallah, mentioned in the case that “do … animals have legal rights? The answer to this question, without any hesitation, is in the affirmative.”
The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), the only civil rights organization in the US working to secure fundamental rights for nonhuman animals, welcomed the ruling. The group are hopeful that the ruling could help more elephants around the world be granted a right not to suffer in captivity.
“Justice Minallah’s careful consideration of nonhuman animal rights alongside human rights and environmental protection is the only fitting judicial response to the existential crises faced by animals all over the world,” the NhRP’s Executive Director Kevin Schneider said. “The bold step forward he has taken on behalf of oppressed nonhuman beings like Kaavan is laudable, as is the persistence of Kaavan’s advocates who’ve fought so tirelessly for him. We look forward to bringing this decision to the attention of the New York and Connecticut courts as we urge them to recognize our elephant clients’ Happy and Minnie’s right to liberty.”
The elephants Happy and Minnie are similarly lonely elephants held captive in zoos in New York and Connecticut respectively.
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