A herd of fourteen wild elephants have returned to their protected habitat in southwest China's Yunnan province following a 1,300km trek that captured the public's imagination, provincial officials have said.
In April the herd, which had 15 elephants at the time, left Puer and meandered more than 1,300 km through the cities of Yuxi and Honghe before reaching the outskirts of the provincial capital of Kunming in June.
The elephants were under constant surveillance from authorities since leaving home, who even deployed heat-seeking drones to keep track of the animals.
While it is unclear why the elephants are moving north, a report by the Xinhua news agency said a decline in edible plants in forest habitats has put pressure on the animals, whose numbers have grown in Yunnan in recent decades.
The wild elephant population in Yunnan stands at around 300, up from 193 in the 1980s, Xinhua said.
Wildlife protection officials told a press briefing the elephants safely crossed a bridge over the Yuan River, headed south towards a nature reserve administered by the city of Puer.
An emergency committee set up to handle the wild elephants used electric fences, laid corn trees as bait, and built artificial roads to ensure the elephants took the correct route.
