After languishing alone for 35 years in Pakistani Zoo ‘Kaavan’ which is also termed as the “World’s Loneliest Elephant” was moved to Cambodia.
Four Paws International, the global animal welfare group has led the charges to save Kaavan since 2016. After 4 years of untiring effort, the group has been successful in making the elephant rescued.
Dr. Amir Khalil, a veterinarian with Four Paws said –
In the sanctuary in Cambodia … waiting for him is three ladies, three Asian female elephants,
Now Kaavan might have a new partner, and share a new life with a partner
Khalil who is treating Kaavan’s many wounds and ailments over the past three months has hoped that 25,000-acre sanctuary will heal the wounds which are physical as well as mental.
About Kaavan
Kaavan was gifted to Pakistan by Sri Lanka when its age was just 1 year old.
Kaavan which is a male Asian elephant lost its partner Saheli in 2012. Since then Kaavan remained lonely. The death of Saheli has mentally disturbed Kaavan a lot. Saheli died due to a small infection in its leg which was unattended by the Zoo authorities. The fate of Saheli was so miserable that its dead body remained laid beside Kaavan for many days.
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Earlier this year Kaavan was diagnosed as being dangerously overweight. This is because of his unsuitable diet of around 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of sugar cane each day.
Over the past 3 months, Kaavan lost 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) with Dr Khalil’s treatment.
A spokesman for Four Paws International, Martin Bauer explained –
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,
The loss of his mate Saheli in 2012 took a toll on Kaavan’s mental health. Elephants are social animals that thrive on the company of other elephants, Bauer explained. 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,
I always compare it to us humans now during the pandemic. We are locked away for 14 days isolated and we all know how that feels,
For much of his time in Pakistan, Kaavan was kept chained in a small enclosure surrounded by a moat of water. The floor irritated his feet and toenails, which are badly damaged and will require years of treatment in Cambodia,
They always say it takes a village, but it took a whole country to get Kaavan moved to Cambodia,
Bauer also applauded Pakistan’s Wildlife Foundation which first sounded the alarm about Kaavan.
Dr Khalil said
Elephants are ambassadors from the jungle, and they deserve to live like ambassadors,
Worst conditions in Pakistan’s Zoo
Because of the negligence and the lack of facilities that existed in Pakistan’s Zoo, Four Paws has taken up the operation to rescue the animals from there. Kaavan is one of the 30 animals that were moved away from Pakistan just because of the worst treatment. These 30 animals were the alive animals that remained out of the 500 animals at one time in that Zoo.
Princess Alia Foundation, headed by the eldest daughter of the Jordan’s late King Hussein has also adopted two retired dancing bears — Suzie and Bubaloo, whose teeth were removed by their previous owners to stop them from biting customers and the owners. These bears will be relocated to Jordan in December.
After all these, only a deer and a monkey will remain in the Zoo.