A herd of wild elephants walked into the Bamandanga-Tondu tea estate at the Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri on Sunday night and went on a rampage, damaging 1,500-odd betel nut trees.
An elephant calf, which entered a cattle shed in search of fodder, got stuck inside. A female elephant, possibly its mother, rescued the calf, damaging the shed entirely.
Sources said that around 11.45pm, eight elephants reached the Tondu Goth Line area of the garden in searching of fodder and moved around, damaging betelnut plantations.
Bhagawan Das, a villager, said elephants from the Kherkata forest and the Gorumara National Park were frequent in their visits to their area for food. "On Sunday, eight elephants came and damaged the betel nut plantations. The animals damaged at least 200 betel nut trees of mine,” Das said.
During the raid, an elephant calf moved into the cattle shed of Ishwar Sahoo and somehow got stuck in the shed made of tin, wooden planks, and boulders.
“The calf started shrieking at the top of its voice. Soon, an adult elephant, which we suspect was its mother, reached there. This female elephant broke the roofs, wooden pillars and planks, as well as the piled stack of boulders, and rescued the calf,” said Sahoo on Monday morning.
According to him, as the elephant herd moved around the village, a section of villagers started bursting sound crackers, beating tin-made canisters and using flashlights to stop the animals.
Around 1.30am, the herd moved out of the village and went into the Kherkata forest.
“Most of us have suffered losses because of the rampage at the betel nut plantations. I have lost around 400 trees in which betel nuts were ready for harvest. A team from the state forest department visited our area this morning, and we hope they will compensate us for the loss,” Keshav Thapa, another villager, said.
The elephant herd, villagers said, also broke the doors and windows of a local ICDS centre. “The elephants were searching for food grains, which are usually kept at the centre,” said a resident.
Senior foresters, when contacted, said they sought a report of the damage. “We will then consider the compensation,” said a forest official.