London 24 August 2022 – It has been almost two years since Kaavan, the “loneliest elephant in the world” made headlines all across the globe. In a spectacular effort, global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS rescued the 38-year-old elephant from a run-down zoo in Pakistan and relocated him to Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary for elephants in December 2020.

Earlier this week Kaavan’s rescuers from FOUR PAWS paid him the first visit since his arrival in Cambodia and Kaavan welcomed them like old friends – with a raised trunk.

In 2020, FOUR PAWS vet Dr Amir Khalil spent weeks with Kaavan preparing him for the super-size plane transfer and forming a bond with the elephant.

Since then, Kaavan’s life has changed in so many ways. He now lives alongside other elephants in a spacious jungle enclosure. Gone are the sad and lonely days from his past.

An extraordinary elephant rescue

Kaavan came to Pakistan as a gift from Sri Lanka in 1985. From 1990 on, he lived with his partner Saheli, but since her death in 2012, Kaavan lived a lonely existence as the last Asian elephant in captivity in Pakistan. In May 2020, the Islamabad High Court decided that all animals living in Islamabad Zoo had to be relocated to sanctuaries, leading not only to the rescue of Kaavan but 38 other animals that FOUR PAWS relocated to species-appropriate new homes.

To prepare Kaavan’s historic transfer, the FOUR PAWS team practised with him the safe and stress-free entry and exit into and from the transport crate. Dr Khalil also used creative methods to keep Kaavan calm by serenading the elephant with Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’. Worldwide, only a handful of adult elephants have been relocated by plane. For FOUR PAWS it was the first elephant air transfer.