Animal-loving stars Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney are celebrating after their campaign to save an elephant from a life of misery ended in victory.

The former Baywatch beauty and the Beatles star publicly backed a drive by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to rescue Sunder, an elephant who suffered injuries after being mistreated by his handler and kept in a tiny shed at the Jyotiba Temple in India.

Both stars sent letters to Indian officials urging them to step in and end the scandal - and on Thursday it emerged Sunder is to be moved from the temple to a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center near Bangalore after an intervention by the country's Forest Minister Dr. Patangrao Shripatrao Kadam.

A PETA spokesman says, "The difference between Sunder's cruel life in chains at the temple and his new journey to freedom, love and care is like night and day... We are grateful to the Forest Minister for agreeing to liberate Sunder and let him enjoy things that are natural and important to him for the first time in his life."

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