Two years after epic trek, China's 'wandering elephants' embrace new life home

HARMONIOUS COEXISTENCE

Asian elephants, the continent's largest land animal, are under top-level protection in China. They are mainly scattered in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna, Pu'er and Lincang.

"There is no safer country for Asian elephants than China," said Jose Ahimsa Arceiz, a Spanish ecologist based at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, adding that China's experience in resolving the "human-elephant conflict," if successful, could lead the world.

In efforts to enhance the protection of Asian elephant habitats and improve their quality, China has established 11 nature reserves spanning an area of 5,098 square kilometers in regions where the Asian elephants are distributed.

Yunnan has also launched the Asian elephant breeding and rescue center in Xishuangbanna, which has successfully rescued 30 stranded or injured wild elephants over the past 20 years, accumulating extensive expertise in the rescue of wild Asian elephants and nurturing abandoned calves.

In 2010, Yunnan became the first provincial-level region in China to introduce commercial insurance for the damage caused by wildlife, with the entire province coming under insurance coverage by 2014.

To mitigate human-elephant encounters and enhance the elephants' food resources, numerous food stores, dubbed "elephant canteens," have been strategically set up throughout various locations in Yunnan, providing the animals with attractive and nutritious meals.

"We must strive to ensure humans and elephants are living in harmony with each other," said Chen.