Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

AsiaWire

This is the moment a huge male elephant takes a casual stroll through a Chinese village as residents hide indoors in order to avoid provoking it.

Footage taken by residents in the village of Gasai, which is in Menghai County in China’s south-western province of Yunnan, shows the large Asian elephant Elephas maximus wandering around seemingly aimlessly.

Asian elephants are a Class I state-protected species in China, where the animals live almost exclusively in Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve.

They are classed as ‘Endangered’ on the INCU Red List of Threatened Species.

The fully mature elephant bull appeared out of the nearby woods at about 7pm local time on 16th February, leading to villagers fleeing indoors and officials evacuating the streets.

The animal with long tusks is pictured strolling slowly through the empty streets after sunset, with the flash lights of a police cordon also visible.

As the video ends, a number of curious villagers can be seen recording the large animal on their phone as it finally walks off.

According to reports, the Asian elephant visited for about one hour before disappearing into the nearby mountains.

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