China News Service, Kunming, June 5th, title: The man who "chases" the elephant
China News Agency reporter Hu Yuanhang
With containment and lure, the 15 wild Asian elephants all the way north in Yunnan finally showed signs of turning around.
According to the latest report, as of 17:00 on the 4th, the elephant group had moved 6.6 kilometers southwest and continued to move in Shuanghe Township, Jinning District, Kunming City, and the elephants were safe.
On the evening of the 4th, upon knowing the news, Xu Jing, the driver of the "post-90s" engineering truck involved in guiding the elephant, let out a sigh of relief.
"Elephants don't go to Kunming, where there are more people. It is a blessing for people and objects." Xu Jing said.
Since the elephant group entered Shuanghe Township, Jinning District, Kunming City along Laoguanqing Village, Chunhe Street, Hongta District, Yuxi City on the evening of the 2nd, more than 100 engineering truck drivers, including Xu Jing, have moved with the elephant group for many days.
They are referred to by the media and netizens as "image chasers", "image blockers", and "image guards."
The elephant group walked around at night, and Xu Jing and the others followed suit.
Once they find that the elephants are moving to densely populated places such as villages, they will follow the instructions to drive the car to the designated place to block the elephants from moving forward.
For the past few days, they have boarded and lived in the car.
When it's hot, let the water in the water tank wash it, and when it's sleepy, lie down on a temporary "bed" about 70 cm wide behind the driver's seat.
When they were closest to the elephant, there was only a window away.
"On the evening of the 3rd, the elephant group tried to continue northward along the highway, but found that it was blocked by our convoy, and then slowly walked past the car. I was sitting in the cab from the other side, and I was so scared that I didn't even dare to move." With the close contact with the elephant group, Zhang Shuihong, an engineering truck driver from Songming County, still had lingering fears.
"Wild elephants are completely different from the elephants seen in the zoo. When they hit the vehicle, the entire dam reverberated with terrible thunder." Another driver added, "In order to avoid irritating the wild elephants, everyone turned their mobile phones to Mute."
Despite the danger, the drivers are still willing to insist. In their view, "This is a matter of protecting villagers and elephants, and it is worth it!"
In fact, at the scene, there are more people surveying the trajectory of the elephants, assisting in feeding the elephants, and evacuating the crowd to ensure the safety of the elephants.
On the 4th, the front-line headquarters deployed 630 emergency response personnel and police forces, dispatched 103 construction vehicles of various types, 40 other types of emergency vehicles, and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles, and fed 2 tons of elephant food.
On the Internet, this rare elephant group that has moved north has also aroused the concern of the whole people, who call themselves "an online elephant chaser."
"Where is the elephant today?" This is what the netizen "Little Fat" has been paying attention to when he gets up in the morning.
"Where do elephants come from and where do they go?" "Why do elephants leave home?" "How do elephants go home? How to protect them?" He actively participates in discussions on almost all topics related to elephants.
"It turns out that Asian elephants were distributed to my hometown along the Yellow River basin during the Shang Dynasty in China; it turns out that too much forest canopy will also reduce the elephant's food source; it turns out that the elephant's memory is so amazing." Netizen Xiaopang said, all the way "Chasing" the elephant gave him a new understanding of the "terrestrial giant" Asian elephant and its living conditions, and he paid particular attention to "how human elephants should coexist harmoniously".
The reporter noticed that in the “national chasing of elephants” in China, “not harming the elephants and living in harmony with the elephants” has become a common consensus among the people.
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