Story at a glance
- Kaavan the elephant was recently freed after decades of solitary confinement at a zoo in Pakistan.
- After a petition started by a pre-veterinary student, Kaavan’s plight was brought to the attention of the singer Cher.
- Pakistani activists and various benefactors worked to transfer the elephant to a sanctuary in Cambodia.
After 28 years in captivity, Kaavan, formerly known as the loneliest elephant in the world, is alone no longer.
With the help of some powerful friends, including singer and actress Cher and animal activist Faryal Gauhar, the petition started five years ago by Samar Khan to “free Kaavan” has been closed. By the end, Kaavan had 401,964 supporters and new friends from around the world.
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WE DID IT….WE REALLY DID IT ‼️
Jonathan interviewed Me 4 Doc about Kaavan & As I Started to Tell K’s Story,I Started Telling Billy’s,& I STARTED 2 SOB,Took 4EVER 2 STOP.I Didn’t Realize Billy STLL BREAKS MY.MANY OF US TRIED 2 SAVE BUT LA ZOO HAS BROKEN HIM.GODHELP US— Cher (@cher) December 2, 2020
Khan was still a pre-veterinary student when he found Kaavan at the Murghazar Zoo in Islamabad, Pakistan. The elephant was chained up and had gashes on his feet that were susceptible to gangrene, the same infection that contributed to the death of his predecessor, Saheli, who was donated to the zoo by the Sri Lankan government.
“The entire time I was there Kaavan didn’t move. The only thing that moved was his head, as it bobbed repetitively from right and left, a behavior known as ‘weaving’ which elephants adopt in response to stress and depression,” wrote Khan, who is now a veterinarian, in his Change.org petition. “He cut a small, solitary figure against the backdrop of his shed, it was a sorry site [sic]. Despite his obvious discomfort, the zoo claims that Kaavan is used to his enclosure and doesn’t mind it.”
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With the help of renowned vet Amir Khalil, Cher, Gauhar and Kaavan’s legal representatives Anees Jilani and Owais Awan, Kaavan was airlifted from Pakistan to a 25,000-acre sanctuary in Cambodia.
Kaavan’s case sparked international interest in the plight of elephants, which are threatened by poaching, human-elephant conflict and habitat destruction, according to the World Wildlife Foundation. In Pakistan, Mohebullah Naveed, a 17-year old animal activist, was motivated to visit Kaavan before school every day of the last five years and a group of citizens formed the Friends of Islamabad Zoo to improve general animal welfare. And Kaavan is free, in the company of other rescued wild elephants.
“He is already miles away from the cowering elephant he once was. His eyes, once dull and glossed over, are now bright and full of mischief,” Khan wrote in his first update to the petition since it was started in 2015.
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