The herd of 14 wandering wild Asian elephants in southwest China's Yunnan Province has headed further south in Eshan County, authorities said on Friday.

 

They traveled 3 km south between 6 p.m. on Thursday and the same time on Friday. This is the fourth day they have been moving southward, according to the headquarters in charge of monitoring the elephants' migration.

 

A male elephant, which strayed 20 days ago, is now 44 km away in Jinning District in Kunming, the provincial capital.

 

The animals have traveled about 500 km north from their forest home in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, reaching Kunming on June 2.

 

For over a month, authorities have sent police to escort the herd, evacuated roads to facilitate their passage, and used food to distract them from entering densely populated areas.

 

On Friday, 301 people were mobilized for the work, 3,112 residents were evacuated, and 2 tonnes of food and 3 kg of salt were provided to the elephants.

 

Asian elephants are primarily found in Yunnan and are under A-level state protection in China. Thanks to enhanced protection efforts, the wild elephant population in the province grew to about 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.