The Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan has completed preparations for the departure of Pakistan’s loneliest elephant, Kaavan, to Cambodia tomorrow [Sunday, November 29].
According to a notification, issued by the authority on Friday, a cargo airplane to transport the airplane has been granted permission to land at the Islamabad International Airport.
“A special DHL cargo airplane, arranged by Kaavan’s donors, has been booked,” it read.
An approval certificate of the order has been passed by the Ministry of Climate Change as well.
CAA’s notification added that the elephant will be accompanied by a team that includes three doctors and eight technical experts.
Under directives of the Islamabad High Court, Kaavan will be moved to the airport from the Margazar Zoo on Sunday. The airport manager was ordered to provide all arrangements for the transfer.
In a hearing on Friday, the court was informed about the elephant’s departure and the preparation underway for it.
Dr Amir Khalil and German expert Frank Gortz, who came from Austria to transfer Kaavan, told the court that after the elephant, two brown bears at the zoo will be transferred to Jordan on December 6.
Dr Khalil told the court that they had prepared a special traveling box to shift Kavan as it was a big mission. “The mission is complex due to the elephant’s big size and long journey.”
The bench, headed by Justice Athar Minallah, remarked that the animals were not made to be kept in cages, adding the animals must be given a natural environment.
It has summoned a report on the transfer of the animals on December 21.
Related: Cher calls on PM Imran Khan in Islamabad
On Friday, American singer Cher met Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad. The premier appreciated Cher’s efforts in helping Kaavan retire to an elephant sanctuary and thanked her.
Kaavan’s plight
Kaavan is a 36-year-old extinct-breed Asiatic elephant that the Sri Lankan government gifted to Pakistan in 1985. The animal is being kept at Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo where he has been alone in his enclosure since 2012 when his female companion, Saheli, died at 22.
An online petition garnered over 200,000 signatures after it emerged he was being chained, suffering from mental illnesses, and will have a bleak future without a better habitat even if a new mate arrives.
On May 22, Chief Justice Athar Minallah ordered wildlife officials to consult with Sri Lanka to find Kaavan a “suitable sanctuary”.
He also ordered that the 878 other animals held at Islamabad’s zoo be relocated.
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