ISLAMABAD: Kaavan, the “world’s loneliest elephant,” could soon have a global fan base, thanks to an upcoming documentary on his life and journey from an Islamabad zoo to a wildlife sanctuary on the other side of the world in Cambodia.
The trailer for “Cher & The Loneliest Elephant,” which was released on YouTube on Saturday, stars the 74-year-old US singer who, along with other animal activists in Pakistan, helped find a new home for the Asian elephant after “decades of neglect and loneliness.”
“What does it take to relocate a five-ton elephant across the entire continent of Asia?” Cher says in the trailer of the documentary produced by Smithsonian Channel, which will air on Paramount+ on April 22.
“It’s a huge challenge… we had to get him out.”
Kaavan was gifted to Pakistan by Sri Lanka in 1985, spending 35 years of his life in Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo with his female partner, Saheli.
After losing Saheli in 2012, Kaavan began to show signs of distress and was soon dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant” by activists who were working to highlight his plight in the zoo.
“He was just moving back and forth. This behavior comes from severe mental and physical neglect,” an expert says in the documentary trailer.
“I could see him from a distance; he was shackled, he was suffering,” Cher says, speaking of her first visit to see Kaavan in 2016.
“Elephants are just like we are, they are so family-oriented and emotional, and so I wanted to free him,” she added.
Cher began campaigning for Kaavan’s release five years ago, turning to social media to amplify the voices of Pakistani animal rights activists who had been petitioning for the elephant since 2015.
He was finally freed in November 2020, with Vienna-based international rescue organization, Four Paws, spearheading the mission to move Kaavan to the Elephant Nature Park in Cambodia.
A highly coordinated relocation effort heavily followed by local media showed Kaavan becoming receptive and rapidly changing under the care, love, and patience of veterans and specialists from Four Paws.
The team worked to ease Kaavan’s transition into Cambodia, which would begin with a seven-hour flight in a crate decorated in Pakistani truck art as a tribute to the elephant.
“We just didn’t stop fighting,” Cher says in the trailer.
