Elephant cub falls into ditch, saved by local police

A wild Asian elephant cub was found fallen into a ditch from a 60-meter-high hill in south Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna Prefecture on January 13, according to a Yunnan Daily report.

Upon receiving a call from a ranger in the Tiaobahe village, local forest police rushed to the spot and took the sleepy baby elephant to a wild-animal shelter. 

Cared by a veterinarian, the cub recovered somewhat on January 14 and began to eat a little, but it was still under a critical condition.

"The baby elephant has been transferred to a wild Asian elephant rescue center for observation and treatment," said Chang Zongbo, a publicity official with local forest police,

Wild Asian elephants are under Class A protection in China, with a population of about 300, mainly scattered in Xishuangbanna and the cities of Pu'er and Lincang in Yunnan.

Source: Yunnan Daily, Xinhua Net; trans-editing by Wang Shixue