Beijing, June 25 (IANS) The herd of 14 wandering wild Asian elephants in southwest China's Yunnan province has headed further south towards Eshan county, authorities said.

They travelled 23 km south between 6 p.m. on Wednesday and the same time on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

A male elephant, which strayed 19 days ago, is now 35.8 km away in Jinning district, Kunming, the provincial capital.

The animals have travelled about 500 km north from their forest home in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, reaching Kunming on June 2.

For over a month, authorities have sent police to escort the herd, evacuated roads to facilitate their passage, and used food to distract them from entering densely populated areas.

On Thursday, 151 people were mobilised for the work, 2,327 residents were evacuated, and 400 kg food and 2 kg salt were provided to the elephants.

Asian elephants are primarily found in Yunnan and are under A-level state protection in China.

--IANS ksk/