ODDAR MEANCHEY (CAMBODIA) – Kaavan, which earned popularity for being the lonely elephant of Pakistan, started his new life in a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia on Tuesday after years of relentless campaigning by US singer Cher.
She was there to see him beginning to explore his new home and said: “You know this is amazing for him… his life is going to be the life of an elephant and not the life of a prisoner.”
The 36-year-old elephant had spent most of his life at a zoo in Islamabad, before being moved on Tuesday to the Kulen Prum Tep Wildlife Sanctuary in Oddar Meanchey Province, to start a new life with some 600 other elephants.
Cher had written songs pressing for Kaavan’s release from grim, isolated conditions at Islamabad Zoo.
Now in Cambodia, Kaavan will gradually move from a quarantine enclosure, to a larger one, and then will eventually be able to explore an area spanning several hectares, according to a communications representative from the animal welfare organization Four Paws.
“It’s just a lovely place and the people are very kind. I would love in some years to come back and see him,” added the singer.