China's wild elephants head to safety after long trek

SHANGHAI: Fourteen wild elephants are heading south towards their protected habitat in southwest China's Yunnan province following a 1,300-km (807-mile) trek that captured the public's imagination, provincial officials said late on Monday.

Wildlife protection officials told a press briefing the elephants safely crossed a bridge over the Yuan River, returning south towards a nature reserve administered by the city of Puer. An emergency committee set up to handle the wild elephants, used electric fences and bait and laid artificial roads to ensure the elephants took the correct route.