---
title: "Karachi’s Captive Elephants Are Down to Two, and Campaigners Race to Keep Them Alive"
description: "Madhubala, 22, has regained 85% of her ability to walk after losing more than 200kg; two of her three sisters are already dead"
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-10-23T04:27:55Z
modified: 2026-10-23T10:43:41Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/karachi-s-captive-elephants-are-down-to-two-and-campaigners--a8b5a6
language: en
tags: ["animals", "zoo", "elephant", "pakistan", "welfare", "asia"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Karachi’s Captive Elephants Are Down to Two, and Campaigners Race to Keep Them Alive

*Madhubala, 22, has regained 85% of her ability to walk after losing more than 200kg; two of her three sisters are already dead*

By rews desk · October 23, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/karachi-s-captive-elephants-are-down-to-two-and-campaigners--a8b5a6

## In brief

- Noor Jehan, a 17-year-old African elephant, died at Karachi Zoo on April 22, 2023
- Four elephant sisters arrived from Tanzania in 2009; two have since died
- Sonia died in December 2024 of a severe bacterial infection after the sisters’ reunion
- Madhubala regained 85% of her walking ability after losing more than 200kg
- A Sindh official has offered rural land, but the elephants remain at Safari Park

At the Karachi Zoo in April 2023, Jude Allen sang “You Are My Sunshine” to a dying 17-year-old elephant named Noor Jehan, massaging her legs and nursing her bedsores through her final days. She died on April 22, and Mr. Allen, now 45, quit his corporate job without a plan B, as he put it.

Three years later, that grief has become a campaign to keep one of Noor Jehan’s sisters alive. Madhubala, a 22-year-old African elephant at Karachi’s Safari Park, is recovering after losing more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds), part of a wider effort by Pakistani and international activists and doctors who say the city’s captive animals suffer from a system unable to give them the care and space they need, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/features/2026/10/23/keeping-madhubala-alive-the-fight-for-karachis-captive-elephants).

The four elephant sisters were captured in Tanzania and brought to Pakistan in 2009, allegedly through an animal trader. Noor Jehan and Madhubala went to the Karachi Zoo; Sonia and Malika went to Safari Park. The case drew attention after Kaavan, an Asian elephant kept alone for years in Islamabad, was moved to a Cambodian sanctuary in 2020 with help from Four Paws, an international welfare group. By 2021, Noor Jehan had an infected tusk, malnutrition and stress. “The day this wild African elephant rested her painful forehead on mine, and I hugged her for the first time — it all made sense,” Mr. Allen said.

![A watercolor illustration shows a woman resting her forehead and hand against an elephant’s face in a sandy enclosure.](https://rews.cc/img/ec9069ff13e7c1cf6456f2419864afcb5c59bdf8.webp)

In November 2024, after Four Paws found the surviving sisters needed better diets, enrichment and treatment, Madhubala was moved to Safari Park for a reunion; the three touched trunks and drank together. Days later, on Dec. 8, Sonia collapsed and died at about 19. Four Paws identified a severe bacterial infection tied to an advanced foot abscess and linked her death to prolonged unsuitable conditions and malnutrition. “Such infections don’t spread in one day,” Amir Khalil, a Four Paws wildlife veterinarian, said at the time.

Madhubala and Malika were both later diagnosed with tuberculosis, though recent examinations reported by Madhubala’s veterinarian indicate she is no longer testing positive. Dr. Khalil, who has overseen her recovery, said she had regained 85 percent of her ability to walk and was a patient who “really wants to follow the standard operation procedure,” including a “water massage for the leg with high-pressure water.” Her wounds were improving when he left Pakistan this month, he said.

For Mr. Allen, who leads a movement called I Am Noor Jehan, the stakes are personal. While preparing Madhubala for transport, with her crate training disrupted by delays, he entered her enclosure and played football with her — an approach Four Paws did not endorse. Within 20 minutes, he said, she was hiding the ball between her legs and teasing the caretakers who tried to retrieve it. “Earning her trust was the most significant accomplishment,” he said. He had earlier warned local authorities about Sonia’s weight loss, he said, and believes it went unheeded. “I felt I betrayed Sonia.”

![A watercolor elephant curls its trunk around a worn yellow ball between its front feet in a sandy enclosure.](https://rews.cc/img/2a58b2298b904d51f3f9cd7a2104960ff16c62cd.webp)

Karachi’s mayor, Murtaza Wahab, said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had not procured any animals in 20 years and had done what it could for Madhubala. “I’ve always said that animal welfare should be paramount,” he said, “and we’ve got a third-party perspective endorsing whatever was being done.” Mr. Allen is less convinced. Visitors at Safari Park feed the elephants and crowd up to them, he said: “What was meant to be a sanctuary became a zoo.”

Javed Maher, the top wildlife official in the government of Sindh Province, said he offered hundreds of acres of rural land where the elephants could live freely; their current enclosure is about 14 hectares, roughly 35 acres, according to Four Paws. “Karachi Zoo, along with the majority of the zoos of the country, is not capable,” he said. A landmark 2020 ruling by a former chief justice of the Islamabad High Court, Athar Minallah, declared that animals have rights, emptied the capital’s shuttered zoo of all 878 animals and sent Kaavan to Cambodia. Karachi’s two remaining elephants have stayed at Safari Park.