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The “world’s loneliest elephant,” Kaavan, is being released from the Pakistani zoo where it has spent 35 years, and will likely go to a facility with better living conditions in Cambodia.
This news comes straight from the animal welfare organization Four Paws International, which conducted a health checkup on Kaavan and issued a press release regarding the results on Saturday. The medical exam requested by the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board was a necessary step in determining whether Kaavan was fit for transport.
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Wildlife veterinarians found Kaavan to have “signs of obesity” in addition to “cracked” and “malformed” nails that possibly resulted from inadequate flooring from his enclosure.
“To solve this issue, he needs to go through a long-term foot care program, which cannot be performed in Marghazar Zoo,” said Dr. Amir Khalil, a veterinarian and mission leader at Four Paws.
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Kaavan was brought to the Marghazar Zoo in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka. He was paired with a female elephant named Saheli in 1990, but she passed away in 2012.
“A lack of physical and behavioral enrichments as well as the absence of a partner, have resulted in Kaavan becoming incredibly bored. He has already developed stereotypical behavior where he swooshes his head and trunk from side to side for hours,” said Dr. Frank Göritz, a head veterinarian for the Berlin-based Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
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Despite the health issues Kaavan has developed during his stay at the Marghazar Zoo, he received a stamp of approval for relocation due to his positive blood tests and overall health condition, Göritz shared.
In 2016 Kaavan became the center of animal rights petitions that urged Pakistani authorities to free him from the Marghazar Zoo. Pop superstar Cher has been an advocate for Kaavan’s release.
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The Marghazar Zoo was originally opened in 1978. The 69.2-acre acre zoo was situated in the Margalla Hills of Islamabad. By May 2020, the Islamabad High Court closed the zoo due to its poor conditions. More than 500 animals that were kept at the zoo have gone missing and more than 24 animals have died in the last four years, according to Four Paws.
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The shuttered zoo has been under the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board’s control. The transfer of other animals is still being determined.
