Watch: Trailer of 'Cher & The Loneliest Elephant' released

Asian elephant Kaavan recovered health wise and quickly adjusted himself to his new home in Cambodia, the Ministry of Environment Spokesperson Neth Pheaktra has told APP in December.

The 35-year-old Asian bull elephant arrived in northwest Cambodia’s Siem Reap province from Pakistan by a chartered plane on Nov 30 after spending nearly 35 years in an Islamabad zoo. He was transported to the Kulen Prum Tep wildlife sanctuary in Oddor Meanchey province soon after his arrival, according to Chinese media here on Saturday.

Now, Kavaan’s journey from being the ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ to posing with models in Cambodia has been captured on camera and will be taking the form of a documentary by Cher.

Titled Cher and the Loneliest Elephant, the newly released trailer for the documentary shows Cher taking viewers along “a touching journey about humans, animals, and our connection to all living beings on earth”. The documentary itself is slated to release on April 22 on Paramount+.

The Smithsonian Channel documentary will follow Cher’s travel to Pakistan to rescue Kaavan, an elephant who’s been neglected and living alone for years. On her way, she collaborates with animal experts and veterinarians to help transport Kaavan from a shed in Islamabad – where he has been kept in chains for almost two decades – to a new home in Cambodia.

“Elephants are just like we are. They’re so family-oriented and so emotional,” Cher says in the trailer.

Sher also told Entertainment Weekly, “I saw all the people being affected by it all over the world. People want a happy ending. People don’t want to see animals suffer. And I know people are suffering too, but this is a story that can brighten their lives.”

She went on to confess that she was scared, “but then I thought, you made a promise, and you have to go,” she continued. “I didn’t see any other way to do it. I have a saying on my Twitter, ‘Stand and be counted or sit and be nothing.’ And I wasn’t going to sit and be nothing.”

The documentary will also feature a track by the singer titled Walls to highlight Kavaan’s story.

Kavaan arrived in Pakistan as a gift from Sri Lanka in 1985. He was only a year old, living at Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad with his partner Saheli. But when Saheli died in 2012, Kaavan became alone and was dubbed the world’s loneliest elephant. He suffered from several health issues, aside from being mentally distressed, and so he caught Cher’s attention in 2016.

Cher, along with other animal rights activists, fought a long legal battle, following which, In May, the Islamabad High Court ruled that Kaavan should be sent to a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary.

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