Kaavan, the loneliest elephant in the world, will finally be released

For decades this elephant served as “entertainment” in a zoo in Pakistan.

In 1985 Sri Lanka offered this newly born elephant to Pakistan in order to promote bilateral relations between the two countries. After a long court battle, Kaavan, the 35-year-old male elephant, will finally be released from its captivity and will live in a sanctuary.

For decades the world’s most lonely elephant entertained crowds on its small, arid patch of land in a Pakistani zoo.

To entertain visitors, the “keepers” pricked the elephant with hooks, in order to make it move, thus increasing the recipes and the supposed fun of those who were going to visit it.

As time passed, the animals disappeared from their enclosures, the zoo became decadent and little visited. His only companion died, presumably of sepsis caused by the hooks stuck deep in his skin.

And for years, it seemed that no one cared about the elephant’s lonely fate. His wounds became infected and the chains around his legs slowly left permanent scars. Kaavan slowly went into psychosis and obesity.

But on Sunday, the loneliest elephant in the world will finally leave its bleak enclosure behind and live on the other side of the continent, thanks to the determination of a union between determined volunteers and, somewhat unexpectedly, the American pop icon Cher.

The court ordered the elephant to be transferred from the Islamabad Zoo (formerly known as Marghazar Zoo) to a sanctuary where he can live freely. As Pakistan does not have suitable elephant sanctuaries, Pakistani authorities have chosen an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia to be Kaavan’s new home.

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