Kaavan elephant to leave for Cambodia shortly
- By Web Desk -
- Nov 29, 2020
ISLAMABAD: Kaavan elephant of Marghazar Zoo will shortly leave in a chartered flight to its new home in Cambodia today (Sunday).
Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on environment Malik Amin Aslam reached the Zoo to farewell to the world’s loneliest elephant.
An eight-member medical and technical team conducted various tests of Kaavan before its shift to the Chaklala Airbase, from where he would be transported to Cambodia via a Russian chartered jet.
Speaking on the occasion, Malik Amin Aslam said that they are seeing-off Kaavan with an open heart and added that the federal government has put all necessary arrangements in place for his transfer.
Environment SAPM Aslam hoped that Kaavan will now lead his life cheerfully with other elephants in Cambodia.
Kaavan was brought in Pakistan back in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka when he was one-year-old, whose inappropriate living conditions in Marghazar Zoo had irked onlookers as he remained chained and that, too, in a tiny enclosure.
Read more: Visas issued to int’l wildlife experts for health examination of ‘Kaavan’
Back in May this year, the Islamabad High Court decreed relocation of Kaavan since he was treated cruelly by the authorities concerned.
Kaavan’s plight was given a boost over the years by American pop icon Cher, who publicly campaigned for the elephant’s relocation. Cher was due to arrive in Islamabad later in the week to finally meet the elephant she had worked for years to rescue and see him off.