China's wandering elephant herd

A mammoth odyssey is wreaking havoc over 500 kilometres of China’s southwestern Yunnan province as a herd of Asian elephants wander through farms and villages.

Losses have already mounted to over a million dollars as the herd decimates crops and plunders stores. Ravaging cornfields, gulping down water tanks, and helping themselves to the contents of barns, the wild Asian elephants’ legal protection allows them to proceed unchecked.

Why these majestic beasts have embarked on this journey, leaving the sanctuary of Yunnan’s National Nature Reserve, is concerning experts.

The herd’s 6 week tramp shows no sign of ending. Speculation mounts that their matriarch is leading them aimlessly after having gone astray. .

In the interest of public safety, officials have been charged with observing the wandering elephants' every move. With no casualties so far reported, temporary evacuations ordered for villages lying on their path and the authorities shepherding the gentle giants away from major population centres using food and truck barricades , the operation is a qualified success.

Yunnan’s wild elephant population stands at around 300, up from 193 in the 1980s, and this boom has seen increased instances of animals making lone sorties into nearby villages, yet never anything of this magnitude. View Less