A shocked villager could only sit and watch as an entire herd of elephants raided his home and overturned his backyard in search of food before they left on their own.

Resident Ali Che told how he, his wife, and their child sat in the house in a rural area of Pu'er, in China's Yunnan province, witnessing the raid through surveillance cameras on the morning of June 24.

The video shows that around 7:30 am, an elephant first entered the yard, crushing the cassava roots on the ground and knocking a metal teacup off the outside table.

Subsequently, several tuskers entered Ali's yard one by one, searching for food, with one even finding a bag of corn kernels.

More and more kept appearing seemingly to join the herd that included five adults and one youngling following its mum.

Some of them also managed to find pig feed that had been left out and feasted on it before all jointly leaving.

Ali said that although elephants occasionally walk into the village looking for food, having them enter his house was a frightening and surprising experience for the family.

They hid inside, too scared to come out, and could only monitor the elephants' movements through their phone's surveillance footage.

Regarding the potential danger of elephants appearing in local villages, Ali noted that while some elephants might behave aggressively, they generally do not attack humans.

He advised people not to disturb or frighten the elephants if they enter their homes.

Following this incident, the local authorities in Pu'er issued a warning, advising nearby residents to be cautious of elephants entering villages, farmlands, and nearby roads.

They also suggested that residents avoid activities like drying crops in their yards or picking wild mushrooms in nearby forests to prevent encounters with elephants.