It was his first contact with another elephant in eight years.
Reaching out with his trunk, Kaavan tentatively greeted a fellow inhabitant of the Cambodian sanctuary where he is beginning his new life after being rescued from grim conditions in a Pakistani zoo.
The 36-year-old bull elephant from Sri Lanka — dubbed the “world’s loneliest” — was the sole Asian elephant at Islamabad’s dilapidated zoo. Animal rights groups launched a campaign to save him from the substandard conditions there, boosted by spirited social media support from U.S. actress and musician Cher.