With music, treats and balloons, friends of Pakistan’s only Asian elephant threw a farewell party for the animal ahead of his relocation to Cambodia following years of campaigning by animal rights activists.
The plight of Kaavan, a 35-year-old bull elephant, has drawn international condemnation and highlighted the woeful state of Islamabad’s zoo, where conditions are so bad that a judge in May ordered all the animals to be moved.
Kaavan is set to be flown to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia on Sunday, said Saleem Shaikh, a spokesman for Pakistan’s ministry of climate change, following months of veterinary care and a special training regime to habituate the elephant to a huge metal crate he will travel in.
But before flying out, the…
