Downtown evacuated as wild elephant barges in

A county in Yunnan province evacuated residents on Sunday after a wild Asian elephant wandered into its downtown the day after a villager in a nearby county was trampled to death in an elephant attack.

It was the seventh death caused by elephants this year in the province's Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture.

Mengla county officials temporarily evacuated nearby residents after the elephant appeared downtown amid heightened fears of human-elephant confrontations due to a rising elephant population.

On Saturday, a villager in Menghai county was killed by wild elephants, according to the local police, who said elephant tracks and droppings were found near the body.

In June, it was reported at a provincial symposium in the county on reducing such confrontations that nearly 300 incidents were reported in the prefecture in the first half of the year, with people injured, roads blocked and crops and vehicles damaged, Chuncheng Evening News reported.

Wild Asian elephants, under Class A protection in China, are found mainly in Yunnan. Environmental and wildlife protection efforts have seen the population grow, with the prefecture's government saying the population in Yunnan increased from 193 in 1983 to 293 last year. In the past six years, elephants killed 28 people in the province and injured 28.

The prefecture set up a public liability insurance program in 2011 to cover losses from elephants through China Pacific Property Insurance and invested an average of 13.23 million yuan ($1.91 million) a year. By the end of July, payouts in the prefecture had reached 105 million yuan.

Compensation was raised this year, with the payout for a person's death doubling to 400,000 yuan and other levels increased.

The prefecture also has begun building an early warning system with cameras and drones to monitor elephant movements.

It has done scientific research and launched education campaigns to help achieve a harmonious coexistence.