How Cher Helped Free "The World's Loneliest Elephant"
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The cameraman zooms in on the anxious elephant, who paces back and forth. However, the pachyderm's demeanor instantly calms down upon hearing a soothing ballad from Disney’s Cinderella, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," sung to him by none other than American singer and actress Cher. The now-viral poignant video, published on YouTube on November 30, 2020, was the culmination of the pop singer and animal activist's four-year-long quest to save Kaavan, “The world's loneliest elephant."
Kaavan was just a year old when Sri Lankan officials gifted him to Pakistan in 1985. The now 36-year-old Asian elephant spent a large part of the next three decades shackled in chains in a confined space at the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad, Pakistan. He was only brought out periodically to entertain zoo visitors by raising his trunk as a begging bowl when his mahout prodded him with a bullhook — a rod with a sharp hook. To make matters worse, his partner Saheli, a female elephant who arrived at the zoo in 1990, died in 2012, leaving the social animal with no companion. Lonely and isolated, Kaavan's mental and physical health rapidly deteriorated.
The animal's plight spurred activists to start a #FreeKaavan social media campaign that urged Pakistani officials to move the mammal to an elephant sanctuary. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears. In 2016, Cher was scrolling through her Twitter feed when she noticed messages by fans urging her to help Kaavan. "'They would not stop saying 'Cher, you have to do something, you have to fix this, you have to save him,’ ” she said in a Smithsonian Channel interview. “I thought, how can I fix this? How can I save an elephant who’s been shackled to a shed for 17 years and who is a thousand miles away?"'
After much deliberation, she reached out to fellow animal activists Mark Cowne and his wife, Gina Nelthorpe-
While the reforms were encouraging, the team soon realized that more needed to be done and established Free the Wild — a nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing Kaavan and other wild animals in similar situations. It took over four years, but in 2020, an Islamabad high court ordered the Marghazar Zoo to shut down and relocate all its animal residents to new homes.
For Kaavan, that meant taking a seven-hour flight to the beautiful Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary. Located in the provinces of Preah Vihear, Siem Reap, and Odor Mean Chey in the Kingdom of Cambodia, the approximately one-million-acre refuge is home to many wild animals, including tigers, bears, leopards, and, of course, Asian elephants.
According to Kaavan's new keeper, Sok Hong, the elephant is adjusting extremely well to his new habitat and has even picked his favorite female elephant from the three he has been mingling with since arrival. Once the pachyderm has been completely rehabilitated, he and his three female companions will be released and allowed to roam freely in the sanctuary's expansive grounds. As for Cher? She is already busy trying to free Bua Noi, a female gorilla who has spent the last three decades in a cage in the dilapidated Pata Zoo, located on the top floor of a Bangkok shopping mall!
Resources: www.freethewild.org, BBC.com, cambodiawildlifesanctuary.com, theguardian.com
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251 Comments
- bunnie_kittyover 3 yearsYay! Hooray for saving the world's loneliest elephant Cher! Hip Hip Hooray! Yay for coming out from isolation Kavaar! And she is pretty too! 🍀Kavaar has Good Luck!🍀
- snewman6213over 3 yearselephants are the best
- flippers96over 3 yearsIt was sad that the elephant was changed up. Its cool Thatcher saved the elephant.
- gamergirl717over 3 yearsOMG!!! that is soo cute
- tulibagi-160064716087over 3 yearsi love Elephants and all types of animals #happy new year
- love-artover 3 yearsThats so nice of them!!!!!!
- tulibagi-160064716087over 3 yearsThanks for saving the World's Loneliest Elephant and that was very nice 😄 and happy new year
- brooklynjover 3 yearsAwww that's so sweet just its sad for the Elephant because if friend died in 2012 and he was lonely😪! But finally he was happier and people all over the world are not like that they hit there animals and treat them wrong that's heart breaking😪😭! One day we will save animals like give them a good home and make them happy! I saw on this video some body was abusing there dog and somebody caught him and told him to stop and started pushing the man! Some people are super nice and help animals and we need more people like that in the world if we did no animals will have to go through that😪! Guys if u see some body being super mean to there dog tell them to stop please!🙏😔
- brooklynjover 3 yearsNot just there dog just dogs are the ones they get abused alot!
- irahamover 3 yearsTHis is the best thing that i ever seen hope is were the elephant is going hope he has a happe life and more
- pippin5over 3 yearsThis is so sweet! People treat elephants as if they are nothing, but it so kind and generous that the singer Cher and the Four Paws rescue group took four years to rescue this elephant! Everyone animal deserves a good life! This story kinda reminds me of The One And Only Ivan book and movie! Like and comment below if you think so too! Bye!