Elephant Spent 30 Years In Captivity After Being Abused Before Officials Gave Him A Chance To Live Free
How would you feel if you couldn’t leave your home for 30 years? Worse, how would you feel if you were shackled to a small room in your home like the elephant named Kaavan for 30 years? We’re talking about confinement for 10,950 days – a very long time that can snatch away your spirit to live your life to the fullest. Such is the story of a 30-year-old elephant called Kaavan. While there are people in this world who genuinely care for animals, there are some who pretend not to notice an animal’s pain and suffering. Since this article is about Kaavan the elephant, here’s a fact you probably didn’t know. According to Wikipedia, there are 15,000 – 20,000 elephants worldwide who live in captivity.
And by captivity, we mean conveniently forgotten and shackled to a small hut until their services are required again. And as far as services are concerned, elephants are forced to walk on burning hot pavements under the scorching sun with tourists on their backs, they’re impelled to perform at outdoor events during occasions, they’re compelled to give their “blessings” to people and finally, they’re forced to entertain people who visit them at the zoo. When these elephants refuse to perform due to exhaustion, they’re abused, whipped and tortured, just so people are entertained. Not an ideal way of life, but unfortunately this is the kind of life Kaavan has lived for 30 long years.
In 1985 when Kaavan was just one year old he was separated from his herd in Sri Lanka and confined to a small enclosure in Islamabad’s Murghazar Zoo located in Pakistan. Kaavan’s new home wasn’t as big as his old home used to be, in fact, it was too small for the majestic being. The chain-linked fence marked the limited boundaries of his new world and little did he know that his new life at the zoo meant that his sole purpose of living would be to entertain tourists and people who visit him. At a tender age, even before his bones had fully formed, Kaavan was forced to carry children on his back while the crowd cheered him on, all unaware of the kind of torture they were putting him into.
For seven long years, Kaavan lived alone shackled in his tiny enclosure until 1992 when the Islamabad Zoo received a female elephant called Saheli from the Bangladeshi government. Saheli was introduced to Kaavan and the two lived together for 20 years until her premature death in 2012 when she was just 22 years old. Saheli had developed a severe leg infection that claimed her life, leaving Kaavan extremely depressed. Usually, elephants in the wild can live up to 70 years, but because Saheli’s needs were neglected and because she didn’t receive the medical care she required, activists blamed the zoo’s administration, the Capital Development Authority (CDA), for her early death.
According to National Geographic, numerous research has concluded that elephants feel empathy just like humans, and so naturally, Kaavan’s behavior changed. He began bobbing his head side-to-side, an act called “weaving”, that is normally observed in elephants who’re depressed and in captivity. But the zoo staff refused to treat his grief by giving him another companion, instead, they chained his legs and locked him up, claiming that he had gone dangerously wild. Activists from around the world urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to have Kaavan’s shackles removed, but after a short period of freedom, Kaavan was back to being chained.
It was only in 2015 when Samar Khan’s fight to free Kaavan from his life of misery started improving the depressed elephant’s life. She launched a petition online that received over 405,000 signatures from people around the world – all wanting Kaavan to be sent to a sanctuary and released from the zoo. She even created a Facebook page called “Free Kaavan the Elephant” which immediately went viral. Then in July 2016, the head of communications for Free Kaavan, Faryal Gauhar along with Help Welfare Organization spoke to the Pakistani senate who finally passed the verdict that Kaavan be moved to a sanctuary. But as of October 2019, “Free Kaavan the Elephant” page on Facebook posted that he was still seen roaming around in his tiny enclosure. We do hope that his suffering will end soon and that the government will speed up the process of sending him to a sanctuary where he can roam free for the remainder of his life.
How can you help animals in captivity? What is your advice to zoo officials? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to share this video with your friends and check out JojoStories for more jaw-dropping content we’re sure you’ll enjoy!
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