The baby elephant was so small that it didn"t yet know how to swim, but it didn"t hesitate to join others from its roaming herd in Yunnan province when they walked into a fishpond.

Apparently to prevent the baby from being submerged, the adult elephants made great efforts to lower the water level by destroying the banks of the pond.

They succeeded, but most of the fish in the pond died, resulting in a loss to the fishpond"s owner of about 5,000 yuan ($775).

The herd"s damage to the village of Dazhai in the city of Pu"er, Yunnan province, went far beyond that amount, said Ding Chunlin, head of the village committee.

"During the 19 days they stayed in our village, they also caused crop failures on about 30 hectares of farmland," Ding said.

As the herd wreaked havoc in the village, which spans almost 75 square kilometers, there was no need for villagers to worry about the losses caused by the animals.

As monitors closely watched the herd to ensure people"s safety, employees with an insurance company began assessing villagers" losses soon after they arrived in the mountain-ringed village on Aug 19, Ding recalled.