Drones used to protect Yunnan residents from wild elephants

Police and forestry workers are using drones to monitor the activities of a wild elephant that has attacked several vehicles in Menghai county, Yunnan province.

The adult elephant smashed the front window of a bus and pushed a car off the road at the weekend, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday. No deaths or injuries were reported.

On Saturday, the bus broke down and the driver insisted on staying in the vehicle, despite warnings from the forestry bureau, a source was quoted as saying in the report.

At 6 pm, the wild elephant approached the bus, looked inside, and hit the window with its head, according to the source. The driver was unhurt.

On Sunday morning, the elephant pushed a car off the road, the report added.

Wang Tongxing, deputy director of the Menghai public security bureau, attributed the incidents to the migration season.

According to Chen Mingyong, a professor in Yunnan University’s Life Sciences Department who has studied Asian elephants for years, wild elephants usually migrate between November and April when food is scarce.

“They chase down food, wander around, and don’t have a home,” he said.

There is also a group of 16 elephants and one lone elephant in neighboring Lancang county, according to the forestry authority.

At present, drones are being used to conduct real-time monitoring of all 18 elephants 24 hours a day. Sections of road will be cordoned off if elephants are found there.

“If the elephants get close to villages, alerts will be sent to the villagers,” Chen said. “People should also avoid provoking the elephants, who may be aggressive if they are scared.”

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Thirty-five Hwange elephants flew from Victoria Falls to China on a “Flight to Hell”

Under cover of darkness on the night before Christmas Eve, 35 young elephants, some believed to be as young as 3 years old, were transported from Hwange to Victoria Falls airport for a flight to China. But it wasn’t to be the secret mission shrouded in tight security that Zimbabwean officials had hoped for. This ‘Flight to Hell’ was soon all over social media, while Zimbabweans slept.

Our investigations revealed that the first to post public news of this was Sharon Pincott, who worked with the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe in Hwange for 13 years but left in 2014 frustrated by unethical practices. She was in a different time zone and therefore wide awake. By the time Zimbabweans awoke, her Facebook post had been shared hundreds of times. Other sites were quick to spread the news which has enraged the world.

“Do they seriously think that they can keep doing this sort of thing now without people speaking out? There are a long list of people, from all walks of life, from both the sending and receiving countries who are horrified that ripping young elephants from their families continues to happen. It doesn’t take much anymore to get news out once an operation like this is in full swing,” said Pincott when we spoke to her.

“Those poor elephants were in tiny crates for more hours than I can bear to even think about, while there was delay after delay getting them loaded at Victoria Falls airport. Such Zimbabwean inefficiency and lack of care, on top of everything else, is unforgivable and alarming,” she said.

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