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Islamabad:
Following years of public outcry and campaigning by American pop star Cher, the “world’s loneliest elephant” embarked Sunday on a mammoth transfer from Pakistan to retirement in a Cambodian sanctuary.
The famed singer and Oscar-winning actress has spent current days on the Islamabad zoo to offer ethical assist to Kaavan — an chubby, 36-year-old bull elephant — whose pitiful therapy on the dilapidated facility sparked an uproar from animal rights teams and a spirited social media marketing campaign by Cher.
“My wishes have finally come true”, Cher stated in an announcement thanking her charity Free The Wild.
“We have been counting down to this moment and dreaming of it for so long and to finally see Kaavan transported out of (the Islamabad) zoo will remain with us forever.”
Kaavan’s case and the woeful circumstances on the zoo resulted in a decide this yr ordering all of the animals to be moved.
“Thanks to Cher and also to local Pakistani activists, Kaavan’s fate made headlines around the globe and this contributed to the facilitation of his transfer,” stated Martin Bauer, a spokesman for Four Paws International — an animal welfare group that has spearheaded the relocation effort.
Experts spent hours coaxing a barely sedated Kaavan right into a specifically constructed metallic crate — at one level utilizing ropes to assist pull him in — that was to be hoisted onto a lorry and brought to Islamabad airport.
From there, Kaavan will probably be despatched through a Russian transport jumbo jet for the prolonged flight to Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia. The airplane will cease for refuelling in New Delhi.
Cher spent a number of days within the Pakistani capital to go to Kaavan earlier than the journey to a 10,000-hectare (25,000-acre) Cambodian wildlife sanctuary, with Prime Minister Imran Khan personally thanking the 74-year-old star.
Cher was because of fly to Cambodia on Sunday to be within the Southeast Asian nation when the elephant arrives.
Officials stated Kaavan will initially be stored in a small designated part of the park the place he can see different elephants.
“Sending him to a place where he can be with other elephants of his kind … is really the right choice,” local weather change minister Malik Amin Aslam instructed AFP.
“We will be happy to see him happy in Cambodia and we hope he finds a partner very soon.”
‘Loneliest’ elephant
Dubbed by the press because the world’s loneliest elephant, Kaavan is the one Asian elephant in Pakistan — the tiny variety of different pachyderms at different zoos are African.
A crew of vets and consultants from Four Paws have spent months working with Kaavan to get him prepared for the journey to Cambodia, which has included coaching the elephant to enter the huge metallic transport crate that will probably be positioned in a cargo airplane for the seven-hour flight.
Zoo officers have previously denied Kaavan was stored in substandard circumstances or chained, claiming as an alternative the creature was pining for a brand new mate after his companion died in 2012.
But Kaavan’s behaviour — together with indicators of misery similar to continuous head-bobbing — raised issues of psychological sickness.
Activists additionally stated Kaavan was not correctly sheltered from Islamabad’s searing summer season temperatures.
Kaavan’s mate Saheli, who additionally arrived from Sri Lanka, died in 2012.
Rights teams and conservationists have stated that the abysmal circumstances on the Islamabad zoo resulted partly from the shortage of laws in Pakistan aimed toward defending animal welfare.
“There’s a lot of improvement to be made,” stated Rab Nawaz with the World Wildlife Federation in Pakistan.
“Kaavan is just one animal. There’s lots of animals in Pakistan… which are in miserable conditions.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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