SW China county to ensure safety of residents, wild elephants

Authorities in Southwest China's Yunnan province have required relevant townships and villages in E'shan county to introduce effective and concrete measures to ensure the safety of local residents and the wild Asian elephants.

They made the requirements when the elephants were found to generally move 1.9 kilometers to the northeast to arrive in the forestry area in Tadian township between 5 pm Saturday and 5 pm Sunday.

An elephant was found to have entered Beicheng Street in Hongta district of Yuxi city from Shaunghe township in Jinning district of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province. It is 53 kilometers from the elephant groups to the northeast.

Authorities urged local townships and villages to continue to strengthen coordination, cooperation and joint efforts to ensure the smooth passage of the elephants moving south.

Relevant townships and villages are required to coordinate with local power supply departments and ensure enough personnel are on duty to fully guarantee local electricity supplies.

More personnel should be sent to help protect and track the elephants on the sites, authorities said.

Meanwhile, the townships and villages are required to expand cooperation with local public security and transportation departments to strengthen control, take emergency evacuation, isolate relevant roads and related measures to control the surrounding villages and strengthen early warnings to ensure the safety of both villagers and the elephants.

On Sunday, a total of 249 police officers and related personnel, 77 muck trucks, seven excavators and related engineering vehicles, 90 emergency cars and 13 drones were sent to the sites to help monitor the elephants and ensure the safety of local villagers and elephants.

A total of 864 villagers in 234 households were evacuated to give way to the elephants and more than 0.15 metric tons of elephant food were fed to the animals on Sunday.