China's migrating elephant herd continues to wander in southwest township

Aerial photo taken on June 11, 2021 shows a herd of wild Asian elephants in Yimen County of Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province.(Xinhua/Hu Chao)

KUNMING, June 15 (Xinhua) -- China's famous herd of wandering elephants continued to linger in the Shijie Township in the city of Yuxi, southwest China's Yunnan Province, authorities said.

A male elephant that strayed nine days ago was about 17.4 km away from the herd, and all the 15 elephants were safe and sound, according to the headquarters in charge of monitoring their migration.

The herd traveled about 500 km from their forest home in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture before reaching Kunming late on June 2.

For over a month, authorities have sent police to escort the herd, evacuated roads to facilitate their passage, and used food to distract them from entering densely populated areas.

Asian elephants are under A-level state protection in China, where they are mostly found in Yunnan. Thanks to enhanced protection efforts, the wild elephant population in the province has grown to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.