A herd of 15 wild elephants that were found taking a cross-country trip in China, which are believed to have escaped from the Xishuangbanna national nature reserve in Yunnan province are currently making headlines. These elephants had travelled over 500 km in a period of two weeks. Elephants are considered to be a protected species in the country and it is unknown as to how they strayed away.
It is to be noted that initially there were 16 elephants that escaped, of which two return back to the reserve. One of the baby elephants in the herd was recently born while on their cross country journey.
The government has employed more than 360 people, 76 police cars and dirt trucks and nine drones for tracking them down and reducing destruction. In order to minimise damage in areas that are highly populated, the government issued an order to immediately vacate those areas. It appears that these elephants are headed towards Myanmar.
Several attempts have been made to redirect these elephants back to the reserve using various mechanisms but none seem to have come in handy. In their two week journey, it appears that they had destroyed around 56 hectares of crops, and caused a lot of destruction, albeit with no casualties. Experts say that this could be a result of forest destruction, as they are slowly being turned into plantations. Due to lack of proper food resources, these herds seem to have strayed in an attempt to scavenge for food.
Meanwhile a herd of 15 wild Asian elephants spotted migrating north toward China’s Yunnan province capital Kunming pic.twitter.com/Jg9n7IHLNN
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) May 31, 2021
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