After spending eight years alone at Pakistan’s soon-to-be-defunct Marghazar Zoo following the death of his partner in 2012, Kaavan the “world’s loneliest elephant” has made a new friend at his sanctuary home in Cambodia.
On Monday, Kaavan moved to the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary in Siem Reap, enduring a 10-hour plane ride with a military escort to get there. FOUR PAWS, a global animal welfare organization for animals under direct human influence — in cooperation with the Pakistani authorities, American businessman Eric S. Margolis and the nonprofit Free The Wild, co-funded by Cher — worked for months to safely transport the elephant to his sanctuary home. Cher was even on the ground in Cambodia to welcome Kaavan to his new life.