'World's loneliest elephant' moving to sanctuary

The famed singer and Oscar-winning actress has spent recent days at the Islamabad zoo to provide moral support to Kaavan - an overweight, 36-year-old bull elephant - whose pitiful treatment at the dilapidated facility sparked an uproar from animal rights groups and a spirited social media campaign by Cher.

"My wishes have finally come true", Cher said in a statement thanking her charity Free The Wild.

"We have been counting down to this moment and dreaming of it for so long and to finally see Kaavan transported out of (the Islamabad) zoo will remain with us forever.".

Officials said Kaavan will initially be kept in a small designated section of the park where he can see other elephants.

Dubbed by the press as the world's loneliest elephant, Kaavan is the only Asian elephant in Pakistan - the tiny number of other pachyderms at other zoos are African.

A team of vets and experts from Four Paws have spent months working with Kaavan to get him ready for the trip to Cambodia, which has included training the elephant to enter the massive metal transport crate that will be placed in a cargo plane for the seven-hour flight.

Rights groups and conservationists have said that the abysmal conditions at the Islamabad zoo resulted in part from the lack of legislation in Pakistan aimed at protecting animal welfare