“Excited” Cher shares Kaavan’s journey from trauma to playing with girls

“Excited” Cher shares Kaavan’s journey from trauma to playing with girls
Kaavan extends its trunk to reach out to another elephant at the Kulen Prom Tep Wildlife Sanctuary of Cambodia - AP
APP Digital Special
APP Digital Special

American singer and actress Cher, who felt herself inapt prior to joining international uproar for releasing world’s loneliest elephant “Kaavan” in Islamabad Zoo, is now excited to find the mammoth “playing with girls.”

The world famed artist, who was pushed into action by many of her around four million Twitter followers, told CNN in an interview with Christiane Amanpour that after having him rehomed in Cambodian sanctuary, she found the erstwhile traumatic monster looking and walking around.

Cher, who travelled to Islamabad and also called on Prime Minister Imran Khan as part of the drive recalled her first glimpse of the elephant shaking her head as the traumatic elephants usually did.

Also Read: PM lauds iconic singer Cher for efforts in retiring Kaavan to sanctuary”

“They (traumatized elephants) move their head and move their body. And once he got into it (sanctuary), he didn’t do it. He just looked around, walked around. He was looking at everything, giving himself dirt back and talking to the girls (female elephants),” she commented.

“With Kaavan and the girls. Girls are little nervous, Kaavan happy to be friends,” Cher said who also accompanied the Four Paws International’s team which traveled along the elephant to Cambodia.

Also a co-founder of a wildlife protection charity ‘Free The Wild’, Cher said that the Twitterati posted contents related to the elephant on her wall. Initially, she did not respond feeling they might stop, but it didn’t happen.

“It was in Pakistan and I thought I am just an entertainer. How am gonna go to Pakistan and free an elephant? We had to work with two administrations.

Narrating her three-year drive for the 35-year chained elephant, Cher said as Prime Minister Imran Khan came into power, everything got much easier.

Iconic American singer Cher called on Prime Minister Imran Khan. Malik Amin Aslam, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change also present in the meeting
Iconic American singer Cher called on Prime Minister Imran Khan. Malik Amin Aslam, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change also present in the meeting. APP

“Just came from meeting to thank Prime Minister Imran Kahn for making it possible for me to take Kaavan to Cambodia,” the entertainer said on Twitter.

She also spoke high of Pakistani people who were “nice” to him, though earlier they had not much acquaintance with the celebrity, usually referred by media as Goddess of Pop.

She also regularly updated her followers with the updates on Kaavan’s journey from a “tiny place” to natural sanctuary even after her its relocation.

“Kaavan meets the girls at breakfast. This makes it all worthwhile,” she said in a tweet on second day of Kaavan’s relocation to new home.

Cher, also a conservationist and philanthropist, is simultaneously running campaign to free other maltreated animals from captivity in different countries like a  Bua Noi, who has spent almost all her life at zoo in Bangkok shopping centre.

Report by Ishtiaq Ahmed

By Ishtiaq Rao

Ishtiaq Ahmed is a Sr. Reporter who reports on Prime Minister, President, Foreign Office, and special assignments. Backed by 20-year experience, he has written for local and foreign newspapers. Reach out at 03335293238/ [email protected]/ X: ishtiaqrao

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