The elephant "Kavan", whose poor living conditions have aroused international condemnation, arrived in Cambodia on Monday from Pakistan on a special cargo plane.
"It landed ... It has been quiet throughout the flight," Martin Bauer, a spokesman for Four Paws International, one of the organizations behind the efforts to resettle the elephant, told the German news agency dpa.
After more than 35 years in captivity at an Islamabad zoo, the elephant will now be transported from Siem Reap airport to the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary in the north of the country, where a newly constructed shelter awaits.
After a period of acclimatization, Kavan will be able to roam within a 12,000-hectare reserve and interact with three female elephants living there.
His arrival marks the culmination of a years-long effort by wildlife activists to free Kavan from Margazar Zoo, where he has remained isolated and in poor conditions.
The rescue mission was funded in part by the American singer and actress Cher, who traveled to Pakistan to see Kavan before flying to Cambodia, where the singer´s plane waited to receive her upon arrival.
