The end of 2020 had a silver lining: the rescue of the world’s loneliest elephant.

The story started 30 years earlier, when a 1-year-old Sri Lankan elephant was given to the leader of Pakistan. The animal, named Kaavan, was moved to an Islamabad zoo where he spent the next 3 decades chained and neglected as the zoo slowly crumbled around him.

In 2016, a veterinarian from an international animal welfare group met Kaavan who by then was depressed, obese and aggressive. For the next 4 years, he sought Kaavan’s release until finally in the spring of 2020, he was given the go-ahead.

When moving day finally arrived, Kaavan was loaded onto a cargo plane and flown to a 30-thousand-acre wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia. There, he’s settling in, with plenty of enrichment, nutritious food and three female elephant neighbors to keep him company.