Rehoming an Elephant

It is always good to try to improve the living conditions of animals housed under difficult circumstances. There are, however, some oddities about the story of the Indian elephant, Kaavan, who has been 35 years in a zoo outside Islamabad, in Pakistan (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/05/worlds-loneliest-elephant-allowed-to-leave-zoo-for-better-life). Clearly, the animal was not housed in anything like appropriate circumstances but the claim that he was 'the world's loneliest elephant', having lost his partner (sex not revealed) in 2012, hints at a strange view of elephant social life. Elephants don't live in monogamous mummy+daddy pairs and, quite commonly, the males operate most of their time away from females. It would be interesting to have more details about the new, improved social conditions that are intended for Kaavan. It is probable that handlers will have to be careful about how they introduce him to other elephants (as well as to people). If it is a non-Zoo location, he may also find it difficult to cope with much of the novelty (e.g. how to get food, what situations to avoid et cetera.