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a14 people & arts
Monday 30 noveMber 2020
'World's loneliest elephant' Kaavan starts trip to Cambodia

By KATHY GANNON Associ- partner Saheli in 2012, has
ated Press captured worldwide atten-
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Kaa- tion.
van, dubbed the "world's Cher's animal welfare
loneliest elephant" af- group Free the Wild has
ter languishing alone for worked with Four Paws and
years in a Pakistani zoo, the American syndicated
was readied Sunday for columnist and philanthro-
his flight to a sanctuary in pist, Eric Margolis, to relo-
Cambodia and the much- cate Kaavan — a mission
needed company of other that's cost about $400,000.
elephants. She's also making a docu-
The mammoth task of get- mentary film about the pro-
ting him into an elephant- cess.
sized metal box for trans- Kaavan was diagnosed
port took several hours, earlier this year as being
and was perhaps the most dangerously overweight,
crucial step in rescuing him owing to his unsuitable diet
from the dire conditions of around 250 kilograms
he's lived in for 35 years. (550 pounds) of sugar cane
Had Kaavan been spooked each day.
and refused to enter the With Khalil's help, Kaavan
cage or bolted, his depar- lost 1,000 pounds (450 kilo-
ture could have been de- Dr. Amir Khalil, a veterinarian from the international animal welfare organization Four Paws, feeds grams) over the past three
an elephant named Kaavan who is loaded in a crate for transporting him to a sanctuary in Cam-
layed for months while the bodia, at the Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. months, and was down
rescue team sought to re- Associated Press to a slimmer, more agile
store calm and trust before 9,000 pounds (over 4,000
trying again, explained Kaavan from the zoo. Con- ephant's life. crate, as nearly a dozen kilograms) when he left the
Martin Bauer, a spokesman ditions there were so bad "In the sanctuary in Cam- men carefully guided him zoo Sunday.
for Four Paws International. that a court in the Pakistani bodia ... waiting for him is inside using chains around Kaavan's wounds are emo-
The global animal welfare capital ordered the zoo three ladies, three Asian his tree-trunk sized legs. tional as well as physical.
group has led the charge closed in August. female elephants," he said. Kaavan is set to leave He would spend his days
to save Kaavan since 2016. Dr. Amir Khalil, a veterinar- "Now Kaavan might have aboard a Russian cargo throwing his head from side
Iconic American singer and ian with Four Paws who's a new partner, and share a plane for the 25,000-acre to side, a stereotypical sign
actress Cher also arrived in been treating Kaavan's new life with a partner." sanctuary early Monday of boredom and misery in
Islamabad last week, the many wounds and ailments Khalil described how on morning. an elephant, Bauer said,
culmination of her long- over the past three months, Sunday he slowly and gen- The plight of the male Asian and something the Four
standing efforts to raise said he was hopeful about tly cajoled Kaavan to walk elephant, who's been Paws team has been work-
awareness about rescuing the next chapter of the el- backwards into a steel alone since the death of his ing to treat.q

Dave Prowse, actor who played Darth Vader, dies at 85

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Wars" trilogy, has died. He was a three-time British Jones. advertisements during the
Press was 85. weightlifting champion Prowse donned Darth Va- 1970s and '80s.
LONDON (AP) — Dave Prowse died Saturday af- and represented England der's black armor and hel- He was a regular at "Star
Prowse, the British weight- ter a short illness, his agent in weightlifting at the 1962 met for "Star Wars" (1977), Wars" fan events, but was
lifter-turned-actor who was Thomas Bowington said Commonwealth Games "The Empire Strikes Back" banned from official con-
the body, though not the Sunday. before breaking into mov- (1980) and "Return of the ventions by Lucas in 2010
voice, of arch-villain Darth Born in Bristol, southwest ies with roles that empha- Jedi" (1983). after the pair fell out.
Vader in the original "Star England, in 1935, Prowse sized his commanding size, He expressed some regret Mark Hamill, who played
including Frankenstein's that, thanks to Vader's Luke Skywalker in the "Star
monster in a pair of Ham- mask, "I can walk around Wars" films, tweeted that
mer Studios horror films. with complete anonymity." Prowse was "a kind man &
Director George Lucas saw "All actors crave recogni- much more than Darth Va-
Prowse in a small part in "A tion and I'd like to have der." Hamill said the actor
Clockwork Orange" and some like Luke Skywalker "loved his fans as much as
asked the 6-foot-6-inch (al- and Han Solo," he told The they loved him. #RIP"q
most 2-meter) actor to au- Associated Press in 1980. Solution Sudoku
dition for the villainous Va- "Fortune tends to follow
der or the Wookie Chew- fame."
bacca in "Star Wars." Prowse also worked as a
Prowse later told the BBC trainer for other actors,
he chose Darth Vader be- helping Christopher Reeve
cause "you always remem- prepare to be the Man of
ber the bad guys." Steel in hit 1978 film "Super-
Physically, Prowse was per- man."
In this file photo dated Thursday, May 12, 2005, the Los Ange- fect for the part. His lilting Prowse was also known to
les, USA, premiere of the movie "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith", English West Country ac- a generation of British chil-
is reflected in the mask eyeglasses of iconic baddie character
Darth Vader. cent was considered less dren as the Green Cross
Associated Press ideal, and his lines were Code Man, a superhero
dubbed by James Earl in a series of road safety Puzzle on Page 13