A herd of 15 wild elephants has captured national attention in China after walking through forests, highways, and urban areas for 500km over weeks, reaching the outskirts of Kunming city in southern Yunnan on Wednesday afternoon.
The herd was in Yuxi, about 20km from Kunming, a city of seven million, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Officials were scampering to issue early warnings and evacuate citizens to minimise damage in inhabited areas at the city border.
Images taken by drones show six female, three male adults, three juveniles and three calves. The herd of Asian elephants has been followed by hundreds of forest officials in vehicles attempting to divert them away from populated areas with food, and by putting up temporary blockades.
Traffic had to be suspended on the roads the herd took. They passed through several counties and occasionally wandered into villages and towns, triggering both alarm and awe.
Television journalists have pursued the elephants, streaming live footage of the animals’ marathon migration onto social media platforms.
Hundreds of millions of online users in China have followed the journey as the animals moved from one location to the other, leaving behind a trail of frantic forest officials. So far, they have “…wreaked havoc in 412 cases, damaging 56 hectares of farmland in the counties of Yuanjiang and Shiping alone, incurring direct economic losses of about 6.8 million yuan ($1.1 million).”
{{/usCountry}}Hundreds of millions of online users in China have followed the journey as the animals moved from one location to the other, leaving behind a trail of frantic forest officials. So far, they have “…wreaked havoc in 412 cases, damaging 56 hectares of farmland in the counties of Yuanjiang and Shiping alone, incurring direct economic losses of about 6.8 million yuan ($1.1 million).”
{{/usCountry}}“On the evening of May 27, they came upon the town of E’shan and walked the streets for six hours after authorities evacuated pedestrians and vehicles and warned residents to stay indoors,” the Xinhua report said.
Until Tuesday, more than 360 people, 76 police cars and dirt trucks and nine drones were mobilised while 18 tonnes of elephant food had been prepared to lure the elephants from populated areas.
Chinese wildlife authorities have told Chinese state media they don’t know why the herd left a nature reserve last year near the city of Pu’er, a region famous for its tea in Yunnan.
The group had 16 animals, but the government says two drifted away to return to the forest reserve and a baby was born during the walk.
Scientists are scratching their heads about the possible reason behind the walk.
Chen Mingyong, an Asian elephant expert cited by Xinhua, said the incident was the longest-distance migration of wild elephants recorded in China.
Chen said it was possible their leader “lacks experience and led the whole group astray”.
Elephant researcher Becky Shu Chen told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) that the herd might have become fearful and could now be driven by stress and panic.
Chen, who researches on human-elephant interaction and works for the Zoological Society of London, said the last such movement of China’s elephants was probably about 400 years ago, when elephants roamed from the jungles of southern Yunnan to the waters of the Yellow River, thousands of kilometres north.
“China has only about 1%, or about 300, of the world’s wild Asian elephants and their habitat is confined to the southernmost parts of Yunnan - the prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Lincang and Puer,” the SCMP report added.