China's migrating elephant herd travels further south

Screen grab from drone video shows the Asian elephants in Dalongtan Township, Eshan County of Yuxi City, southwest China's Yunnan Province on June 22, 2021. (Xinhua)

KUNMING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- China's herd of 14 wandering wild Asian elephants has traveled further south in Eshan County in southwest China's Yunnan Province, authorities said on Wednesday.

The herd headed 15 km south between 6 p.m. on Tuesday and the same time on Wednesday.

The rainy weather in Eshan has added to the difficulty of monitoring and tracking the herd, according to the headquarters in charge of monitoring the elephants' migration.

A male elephant, which strayed 18 days ago, is now 32.5 km away in Jinning District in Kunming, the provincial capital.

On Wednesday, a total of 132 people were mobilized for the work, 957 local residents were evacuated, and 400 kg of food was provided to the elephants.

The animals have traveled about 500 km north from their forest home in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, reaching Kunming 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 primarily found in Yunnan and are under A-level state protection in China. Thanks to enhanced protection efforts, the wild elephant population in the province grew to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.