An elephant once dubbed the ‘world’s loneliest jumbo’ before he was saved by pop star Cher has been relaxing in a jungle pool in his new home in Cambodia.

The 37-year-old male jumbo Kaavan, 37, was rescued by the singer working with animal activists from a zoo in Pakistan in 2020 before he settled into his new home in a wildlife sanctuary in Siem Reap province.

Kaavan used to suffer from mental health issues following the death of his mate in 2012, but his caretakers claimed that returning to the wild has done wonders to rehabilitate the gentle giant.

Footage shows the adorable elephant enjoying an entire pond to himself while splashing water around on a hot afternoon in the 25,000-acre Kulen Prum Tep Wildlife Sanctuary on May 26.

A volunteer from Cambodia’s Save Elephant Foundation said: ‘On a very hot afternoon, Kaavan showed us his favourite way to relax and cool down. He now has a new life and the wild did wonderful transformations on him.’

The jumbo, originally from Sri Lanka, was given as a ‘gift’ to Pakistan in 1985 when he was only one year old.

He spent the next decades of his life in captivity in the Islamabad zoo where he met his partner Saheli, but she died in 2012.

After Saheli's death, Kaavan was alone in the zoo for eight years and reportedly suffered from mental health issues. Animal welfare activist Martin Bauer from Vienna, Austria, said that the jumbo would throw his head from side to side which was a sign of boredom and misery, which earned him the nickname ‘World’s Loneliest Elephant'.

The group initiated a campaign to have him rescued and relocated in 2016 which lasted for four years before he was finally rehomed in 2020 where he is currently living now.

Staff member Pedro said upon his arrival to his new home: ‘All three of our ladies seem a bit intimidated by him, he is a big boy.'

Aside from swimming in ponds, Kaavan reportedly loved to interact with other female elephants in the sanctuary.

Kaavan is an Asian elephant, which was classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Experts says its population quickly declined over the past 75 years with only an estimated population of at least 20,000 left in the wild.