Superstar Cher welcomed “the world’s loneliest
elephant” to Cambodia Monday to begin a new life at a specialised
sanctuary after the creature was rescued from grim conditions in a Pakistani
zoo.

The plight of Kaavan — a
36-year-old bull elephant at Islamabad’s dilapidated zoo and originally from
Sri Lanka — sparked global uproar from animal rights groups, who launched a
campaign to save him.

His cause was boosted by a
spirited social media support from actress and musician Cher, who travelled to
see him off from Pakistan and then to Cambodia to welcome him to his new home.

Wearing a black face mask,
the Oscar winner was on hand at Siem Reap airport and waved excitedly at the
plane after it landed around 2:30 pm (0730 GMT).

Also read: Thanks to Cher: ‘World’s loneliest elephant’ rescued after successful campaign

“I am so proud he is
here,” she told AFP, after greeting Kaavan through an opening at the base
of the crate.

“He’s going to be really
happy here,” said Cher, adding that she was hopeful his ordeal was over.

Kaavan’s much-anticipated
journey was “uneventful”, said Amir Khalil, a veterinarian from
animal welfare group Four Paws, adding he behaved “like a frequent
flyer”.

“Kaavan was eating, was
not stressed — he was even a little bit sleeping, standing, leaning at the
crate wall,” he said.

Transporting an adult
elephant by plane is no small task, and has only been undertaken a handful of
times.

Helpers packed his trunk with
200 kilos (450 pounds) of food to snack on during the seven-hour flight, while
a tube system was installed in his transport crate aboard a jumbo Russian cargo
plane to handle up to 200 litres of urine.

After Kaavan touched down,
monks offered him fruit, chanted prayers and sprinkled holy water on his crate
to bless him.

He was then loaded onto a
truck for the journey to Oddar Meanchey province where a wildlife sanctuary that
houses other elephants will be his new home.

Cher followed behind in her
own vehicle as Kaavan made his way through farmland and past the famous Angkor
Wat temple.

“Cambodia is pleased to
welcome Kaavan. No longer will he be ‘the world’s loneliest elephant’,”
deputy environment minister Neth Pheaktra said.

“We expect to breed
Kaavan with local elephants — this is an effort to conserve the genetic
fold,” the minister told AFP.

Kaavan’s journey is the
culmination of years of campaigning from animal rights groups, who say the
animal’s behaviour in captivity demonstrated “a kind of mental
illness” likely due to the zoo’s woeful conditions.

In May, a Pakistani judge
ordered that all the animals at the zoo be moved.

Upon hearing about Kaavan’s
freedom, Cher had tweeted that the decision marked “one of the greatest
moments” of her life.

A team of vets and experts
from Austria-based Four Paws has spent months working with Kaavan to get him
ready for the trip — a complicated process due to his size and the amount of
food needed en route.

The elephant also had to be
taught to enter the four-tonne metal crate that was then secured in the belly
of a mammoth Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane for the journey.

Four Paws, along with Islamabad authorities, also safely moved
three wolves and some monkeys from the zoo. Currently only two Himalayan brown
bears, one deer and one monkey remain.