For 35 excruciating years, an elephant named Kaavan suffered inside the small confines of his zoo enclosure.

Kaavan is 36 years old and weighs 9,000 pounds, and for most of his life, he was chained up in a now-defunct Pakistan zoo.

He was gaining weight, getting sicker by the year, and suffering from neglect, depression, and all sorts of medical issues.

One of the most heartbreaking aspects of Kaavan’s story is the fact that his female partner passed away inside his enclosure.

After she died, her body lay beside him for days. The grief and trauma only added to his mental and physical damage.

Kaavan’s nails were so poorly cared for that they became overgrown and painful.

He spent so much time in isolation that all he would do was pace his enclosure, repeatedly shaking his head as a way to cope with the boredom.

It makes total sense that Kaavan was dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant.”

Thankfully, his story now has a happy ending.

For many years, animal advocates fought to find Kaavan a new home that would restore his health and happiness.

Then legendary pop icon Cher stepped in to help.

Cher then took to Twitter to share the news that she’d met with Prime Minister Imran Kahn and that Kaavan would be moved to a sanctuary.

She tweeted: “Just came from meeting to thank Prime Minister Imran Kahn for making It possible for me to take Kaavan to Cambodia.”

Cher is also working on a documentary about Kaavan’s story.

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