Kaavan cleared for travel to Cambodia

Foreign vets give pachyderm health certificate

ISLAMABAD:

A team of international vets using tranquilliser darts, flatbreads and the soothing lyrics of Frank Sinatra conducted a medical examination Friday on Kaavan, the Asian elephant, ahead of his planned move to Cambodia.

The plight of Kaavan, an overweight, 35-year-old bull elephant has drawn international condemnation and highlighted the woeful state of Islamabad's zoo, where conditions are so bad that the Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah in May ordered all the animals to be moved.

Following the ruling, Austria-based animal welfare and rescue group Four Paws International were enlisted to help move Kaavan -- whose case was boosted by the singer and activist Cher.

A transport crate must be built and the elephant habituated to it before being flown to a 25,000-acre Cambodian wildlife sanctuary in a "jumbo" jet -- probably a giant Antonov An-225 airlift cargo plane.

But first, experts must know how Kaavan has fared since the last examination in 2016, so on Friday they sedated him to get up close.

Pregnant elephant dies after eating fruit packed with firecracker

Armed with a tub filled with bananas and flatbreads, Four Paws veterinarian Amir Khalil coaxed the elephant into an emptied-out concrete bathing pond while head vet Frank Goeritz used a tranquilliser pistol to fire three large darts into the animal.

Unaccustomed to close human contact, the elephant grew a little agitated, prompting Khalil to sing Sinatra's classic melody "My Way", which appeared to calm the pachyderm as he chomped on chapattis.

Once the tranquillisers kicked in, Khalil and Goeritz measured Kaavan's hefty frame and girth, took blood samples and inserted 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," said Goeritz, pointing to the elephant's cracked and malformed toenails that will need medical attention.

With little legislation to safeguard animal welfare, zoos across Pakistan are notorious for their poor conditions.

In 2018, 30 animals died within months of a new zoo opening in the northwestern city of Peshawar, including three snow leopard cubs.

Goeritz said Kaavan has been eating up to 200 kilograms of sugar cane each day and deprived of intellectual stimuli, resulting in "stereotypic" behaviour where he swooshes his head and trunk from side to side for hours on end.

"He is bored. He needs definitely physical and mental challenges," said Goeritz, who has spent three decades working with captive elephants around the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2020.