ISLAMABAD: A team of experts is expected to arrive to assess the health of Kaavan, Marghazar Zoo’s lone elephant, and declare him fit to travel to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam announced on Saturday.

Kaavan will move to a sanctuary in Cambodia after 35 years in captivity in Islamabad.

Mr Aslam said Kaavan is a herd animal and should not be alone, adding: “The place for Kaavan is a sanctuary where he can roam free.”

He added that the news that Kaavan is being moved to Cambodia has reached the famous American singer Cher, who has offered to take care of his transportation costs.

On Friday, an expert committee had recommended retiring Kaavan to a 25,000 acre wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia.

Process to shift the elephant will take four weeks, climate change additional secretary tells IHC

“The Islamabad zoo will not have any more elephants after Kaavan,” Mr Aslam said at a press conference.

“We are going to completely overhaul this caged zoo. Animals will have more space to roam in enclosures. Funds have been approved after the Ministry of Climate Change took control of the zoo nine months ago. We will be developing a new plan with international consultants to transform it into a safari zoo and a place of learning. The zoo will be home to mostly indigenous species. This place will be turned into a place of joy and education,” he added.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Director Biodiversity Rab Nawaz said elephants cannot be kept in captivity. He added that the concept of operating zoos is on the decline everywhere, and animal enclosures are now open and as close to natural environments as possible.

“It is of prime importance that standards and best practices are developed for the zoo. Zoos are important but not at the cost of the health of the animals. It was injustice to keep Kaavan alone this long and the conditions he had lived in,” Mr Nawaz said.

Another senior WWF official said that Kaavan has been unchained for five years, but his movements rocking side to side show that all his years in chains left lasting effects and he remains in mental distress.

Loneliness is one of the biggest reasons for his depression, the official said.

IHC disposes of Kavaan case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday disposed of the case related to the implementation of its order releasing Kaavan from the zoo to a sanctuary.

The IHC disposed of the case after the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) and the climate change ministry informed the court that Kaavan may be relocated to a sanctuary in Cambodia.

The ministry has also given a four-week timeframe for the relocation, and told the court that all the arrangements for the move would be finalised in this period.

The IWMB’s representative told the court that the committee constituted to relocate Kaavan agreed to send him to a sanctuary in Cambodia that already houses elephants and is equipped with experts to have relocated and rehabilitated more than 80 elephants so far.

He said three sanctuaries in Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka were considered, and the one in Cambodia was chosen because it was more effective and economical.

The climate change additional secretary told the court that the IWMB wrote to the ministry asking for a visa to be arranged for Kaavan, which will be taken up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said the process to move Kaavan to the sanctuary will take four weeks.

On June 9, IWMB Chairman Dr Anis Rehman constituted an eight-member committee tasked with suggesting suitable sanctuaries for Kaavan. This followed a landmark IHC judgement issued on May 21 on animal rights, which ordered the release of the animals confined in Marghazar Zoo to their respective sanctuaries.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2020