Thieving herd of elephants cause havoc roaming across China

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Thieving herd of elephants cause havoc roaming across China​

By The Washington Post
June 2 2021

No one knows where they are going or why. Since last March, a family of wild elephants in south-west China has trekked more than 482 km, travelling north through fields, highways, villages and towns.

They have stolen crops, rolled around in villagers' courtyards looking for food, and broken into a car dealership where they drank buckets of water and left muddy footprints.

The herd has been labelled "The Northbound Wild Elephant Eating and Walking Tour." In one incident, two young elephants reportedly raided a villager's stores of corn liquor and later appeared to pass out in a field.

"We have no way of telling where they are going," Chen Mingyong, a professor at Yunnan University who studies wild elephants, told state broadcaster CCTV.

From local residents to officials and TikTok influencers, the country has been transfixed by the family of 15 Asian elephants who have ignored police sirens and trucks laden with food, attempts to lure them home to their nature reserve in Xishuangbanna near China's border with Laos and Myanmar.

On Wednesday, the family reached the outskirts of Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, where authorities fear deadly accidents between residents and the wild animals will become more likely. Traffic controls were put in place outside a village near the city of Yuxi, where the elephants were expected to pass. Crowds gathered to watch from a distance, according to local media reports. Farmers grabbed piles of dung to use as fertilizer while bloggers set up their phones to film themselves.

Chinese researchers, describing the migration as "unprecedented" in China, said the elephants may be on a quest for food and territory as a result of their shrinking habitat in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan. The wandering herd has caused about 6.8 million yuan ($1.1 million) in lost crops, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

"It is common for Asian elephants to migrate, but in the past that has mostly been to look for food within their habitats," said Chen. "An exodus this far north is quite rare."

Cao Dafan, project lead of Asian Elephant Protection, wrote in an article on the group's WeChat page that possible reasons could be shifts in their environment, drought or changes in food supply. "Some experts have also discussed whether it is a random choice in itself, which makes sense in my opinion," he wrote.

"Inexperienced leadership" of the elephant in charge could be another reason for the long journey to nowhere, according to Chen. "Maybe it got it wrong but still thinks it's going the right way," he said.

Thieving herd of elephants cause havoc roaming across China

A family of 15 Asian elephants have stolen crops, rolled around in villagers' courtyards looking for food, and broken into a car dealership where they drank buckets of water and left muddy footprints.

www.iol.co.za

 

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I hope they don't come to Beijing.

 

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Wild elephants leave trail of destruction on 500km trek through China​

 

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Live: Wild Asian elephants migrate further north​

They've been moving up north for weeks and over 500 kilometers, where the hell are they going..

 

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Tigers attack from the very north and elephants from the very south, they both expand their territories at an alarming speed, future human animal conflicts are real worry now.

 

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Elephant herd leaves trail of destruction as it roams across China​

Updated 12:48 AM ET, Wed June 9, 2021
The herd began its journey in the southwestern province of Yunnan, traveling from the nature reserve in Xishuangbanna to Yuxi, a city of 2.6 million people.


A herd of 15 elephants has wreaked havoc in China, trampling crops and causing more than a million dollars' worth of damage, after the animals escaped from a nature reserve last year.

The elephants have made a 500-kilometer (311-mile) trek leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, according to state news agency

It is unclear why they left their nature reserve home.

On their travels, the elephants have caused 412 separate incidents of damage

The creatures have also caused significant disruption to locals. Residents have been told to stay indoors and pedestrians and vehicles were evacuated in the town of Eshan after the elephants roamed the streets for six hours.

Authorities established a 24-hour command center to monitor the animals after they were seen in the Hongta District of Yuxi on Monday

Over 360 people, 76 police cars and dirt trucks and nine drones are part of a task force following the elephants

The elephants have destroyed 56 hectares of farmland in the counties of Yuanjiang and Shiping alone, the agency said.

Of the 15 elephants, one male has broken free from the herd and is currently about 4 km to the northeast of the group, according to the on-site command tracking the elephants.

Monitoring images show the herd is comprised of six female adults, three male adults, three sub-adults and three calves.

Photos: China's herd of wandering elephants | CNN

A herd of 15 elephants has wreaked havoc in China, trampling crops and causing more than $1 million worth of damage so far after the animals escaped from a nature reserve last year.

www.cnn.com