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Cher Helps Lonely Elephant Relocate to Cambodia Sanctuary
Posted
November 30, 2020
Views
8,965
Likes
147
Comments
20
Engagement
1.86%
November 30, 2020
8,965
147
20
1.86%
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1:36Now PlayingKaavan, a 1985 gift from Sri Lanka to Pakistan, had been living in the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad with his partner Saheli, who died in 2012.
The zoo fell on hard times and conditions got so bad that a court in the Pakistani capital ordered the zoo closed in August.
The plight of the male Asian elephant captured worldwide attention, including from the American singer and actor Cher, who has been closely involved in his rescue.
Cher's animal welfare group Free the Wild worked with animal rescue group Four Paws and the American syndicated columnist and philanthropist, Eric Margolis, to relocate Kaavan - a mission that has cost about $400,000.
Veterinarians and elephant experts spent three months in Islamabad, coaching Kaavan three times a day on how to enter and exit safely and without stress his four-ton travel crate, which includes a system that can hold up to 200 liters (53 gallons) of urine.
He was also dangerously overweight due to his unsuitable diet of around 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of sugar cane each day.
With veterinarians' help, Kaavan lost 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) over three months.
Kaavan's wounds are emotional as well as physical.
He would spend his days throwing his head from side to side, a stereotypical sign of boredom and misery in an elephant, according to a Four Paws spokesman.
The loss of his mate Saheli took a toll on Kaavan's mental health.
Elephants are social animals that thrive on the company of other elephants. For Kaavan, the last eight years have been akin to living in quarantine - something the world has come to understand all too well amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 36-year-old, 4,080-kilogram (9,000 pound) elephant received a warm welcome on arrival in Cambodia from officials, conservationists, and the Buddhist monks, who chanted prayers for his harmony and prosperity.
According to Four Paws, very few adult elephants have ever been relocated by plane, so preparations were arduous.
The elephant was then driven by truck to a camp in northern Cambodia, where he should be able to leave his crate on Tuesday (December 1).
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