
Elephant herd razes 500-kilometer path of destruction after escape from China nature reserve
CNN
A herd of 15 elephants has wreaked havoc in China, trampling crops and causing more than a million dollars' worth of damage, after the animals escaped from a nature reserve last year.
The elephants have made a 500-kilometer (311-mile) journey through the southwestern province of Yunnan from the nature reserve in Xishuangbanna to Yuxi, a city of 2.6 million people, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, according to state news agency Xinhua. It is unclear why they left their nature reserve home, but on their travels, the elephants have caused 412 separate incidents of damage, with financial losses amounting to around 6.8 million yuan ($1.1 million), Xinhua reported. They destroyed 56 hectares of farmland in the counties of Yuanjiang and Shiping alone, the agency said.
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