China's migrating elephants move southeast

Beijing, July 11

The herd of 14 wandering wild Asian elephants in China’s Yunnan province has now moved 10.5 km in the southeastern direction, authorities said.

The elephants entered Longwu Town in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture at 8.20 p.m. Friday and are safe, Xinhua news agency quoted the headquarters in charge of monitoring their migration as saying on Saturday.

The male elephant that broke away from the herd was captured and sent back to its forest home in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture on July 7. It is in a good condition.

On Saturday, authorities dispatched 346 emergency and police staff, deployed dozens of vehicles and 23 drones and evacuated 2,259 local residents.

The authorities also fed two tonnes of food to the elephants.

The herd of 15 wandering wild Asian elephants travelled about 500 km north from its forest home in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, before reaching the provincial capital Kunming on June 2.

The male elephant strayed from the herd on June 6, and moved around in the cities of Kunming, Anning and Yuxi, with an activity area of 140 square km and traversing a distance of 190 km.

The animals were mainly fed by locals or foraged in villages. IANS