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August 5, 2021

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Herding wild elephants with fruits

Source: AFP | 00:00 UTC+8 August 5, 2021 | Print Edition

First the entire village is shooed indoors, its power supply cut, and finally bananas and other elephant treats are dumped on the opposite side of town to coax the uninvited guests to pass through.

So goes the routine welcome ceremony for China鈥檚 wayward herd of 14 wild elephants, whose wandering ways have sparked an unusual operation aimed at steering them home across steep, winding, and often populated terrain.

The group left its home range far south near the Laos border 16 months ago for a grand food tour across rich farmland bursting with corn, sugarcane, bananas and dragon-fruit in the southeastern Yunnan Province.

The Chinese public has delighted in the elephants鈥 antics, including parading down city streets, guzzling grain alcohol and dozing en masse in a field.

But it鈥檚 a jumbo task for the three dozen Yunnan forestry firefighters charged with shepherding the elephants safely home 鈥 tracking night-moving animals that can disappear into thick forest and trek up to 30 kilometers a day.

It鈥檚 the furthest north that China鈥檚 wild Asian elephants have traveled in recorded times, said Yang Xiangyu, a task force leader.

鈥淏efore this, we only saw elephants in the zoo or on television,鈥 he said.

Alarmed officials formed the task force in May, as the elephants neared Kunming, the regional capital.

Using drones to keep tabs on the wandering herd, they sleep out in the subtropical air or in their vehicles.

On a recent morning, team members stood before a large-screen TV in a temporary village headquarters as front-line colleagues beamed back the day鈥檚 first images.

As white clouds parted, unmistakably elephantine gray-brown outlines appeared down in a forest clearing near a village.

Their trunks probing around for a final snack before bedding down during the daytime heat.

They stir again around dusk, and their trackers move with them.

When they approach a village, loudspeakers and door-to-door checks urge locals to shut themselves in.

Preferably upstairs, out of reach of the hungry visitors.

Power supplies are cut to prevent the elephants from electrocuting themselves or sparking fires.

And vehicles are parked across roads behind the herd or on side routes to keep them moving forward, preferably south.

Once through, their new location is plotted, the weary task force redeploys and the circus resumes the following dusk.

The elephants have dazzled their chaperones with their intelligence.

A mature female leads, always finding the best path toward food and water or the safest point across a stream, Yang said.

They use tree branches gripped in their trunks to help comrades scratch a hard-to-reach itch, swat bugs, or seemingly draw designs on the ground.

Mud is employed as sunscreen, they may fashion a crude 鈥渟unhat鈥 out of vegetation, and their dexterous trunks can turn on a faucet, open a door, or lift covers off water wells for a drink, Yang said.

There are three juveniles, two born during the odyssey, officials said. Adult elephants have been seen using their huge bulk to crush down traffic guardrails so the youngsters can clamber over them.

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