Villager held after pregnant wild elephant shot dead

Xinhua, July 23, 2015

Wild elephants. [File photo]

A villager in southwest China's Yunnan Province has been detained after a pregnant elephant was shot dead near his home.

The villager, surnamed Wang, is alleged to have opened fire on a group of intruding wild elephants with a homemade gun on Sunday, the press office of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture said in a statement.

One female elephant was later found dead in Wang's fish pond, with a bullet in its head. It was carrying a male calf and was about to give birth soon, the statement said.

Wang is said to have told police he had yelled hoping to scare the elephants away, but of no avail.

The statement did not say what penalties Wang might face.

Wild Asian elephants are a protected species in China. About 250 to 300 live in the wild in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna, Pu'er and Lincang.

But wild elephants often intrude on villages, damaging crops and even attacking humans. This year alone, three people have died after being attacked by wild elephants, and several others were injured, the local forestry department said.