A team of veterinary experts from different parts of the world has conducted a medical examination on Pakistan's only Asian elephant, a procedure before moving the animal to its new home in Cambodia.
Kaavan, the 34-year-old overweight bull elephant, has attracted global attention to the poor conditions of the animals at the Islamabad Zoo in Pakistan. Courts found the reported conditions to be in direct violation of the country's Wildlife Ordinance Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1890. On May 21, The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered that all animals from the zoo be relocated to different sanctuaries.
A Four Year Campaign for Kaavan
Kaavan, the lone Asian Elephant in Pakistan, was born in 1985 in Sri Lanka. Upon his birth, the Sri Lankan government gave him as a gift to Zia-ul-Haq, then the President of Pakistan. He has stayed at the Islamabad Zoo, formerly known as the Marghazar Zoo, for most of his life.
In 1991, a female elephant named Saheli was gifted also by the Sri Lankan government to Pakistan. Saheli was meant to be a partner to Kaavan until Saheli died in 2012. The younger elephant had been injured a few days prior to dying at 22 years old.
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By September 2016, news started breaking out about the Asian Elephant's poor living conditions, including being kept in chains for more than twenty years. It caught the attention of American pop artist Cher, who started the #SaveKavaan social media campaign. Among the reports included in the petitions is that Kaavan was locked in a small enclosure and was only provided with a small pool of water in high temperatures.
WE HAVE JUST HEARD FROM
PAKISTAN HIGH COURT
KAAVAN IS FREE — Cher (@cher) May 21, 2020
To enact the IHC ruling, Austrian animal welfare and rescue group Four Paws International will be supporting Kaavan's move to Cambodia. The Asian elephant will be moved to a 25,000-acre wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia. His transport, according to an article from the Agence-France Presse (AFP), will probably be an Antonov An-225 Airlift Cargo Plane - tagged as the world's largest cargo plane.
Obese and Bored
Amir Khalil, the veterinarian with Four Paws International, first got the elephant into an emptied-out concrete bathing pond by offering it a bunch of bananas and flatbreads. Once the elephant was out, head vet Frank Goeritz tranquilized the large, 35-year-old elephant to allow the Four Paws team to examine Kaavan.
Reports noted that the elephant became agitated, with Khalil's rendition of the Frank Sinatra classic "My Way" seemingly allowed Kaavan to calm down. Afterward, the Four Paws vets took the elephant's measurements and blood samples before putting a microchip in his left shoulder.
"He is in good general condition... but he is totally obese, he weighs way too much and his feet are terrible," Goeritz said in an interview with AFP. They also noted the elephant's toenail, malformed and cracked, requiring medical attention.
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Goeritz also shared that the lone Asian elephant has been consuming about 200 kilograms of sugar cane every day. Furthermore, the lack of intellectual stimuli in Kaavan led to his stereotypic behavior of swinging his head and his trunk side to side,
"He is bored. He needs definitely physical and mental challenges," the Four Paws lead vet added.
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