A mother elephant and two others of her herd on Wednesday morning jointly rescued a six-month-old elephant calf that fell and got stuck in a narrow concrete drain near Lalgarh forest in West Midnapore.

Together, they succeeded in pulling out the baby elephant.

The villagers of Lalgarh, most of whom recorded this unique rescue operation on their mobile phones, said they learned a lesson from the elephants on how collective effort helped in times of crisis.

“First, the mother tried alone. Then another elephant joined her to drag the tiny calf out of the narrow concrete drain. However, the duo’s joint efforts failed. Finally, when the third elephant joined them, they pulled out the baby,” said villager Madhusudan Mahato.

“They showed us the strength of unity,” he added.

“One elephant caught the baby’s leg with its trunk, and two others, including the mother, used their trunks to assist the first one. Finally, the trio pulled the calf out of the drain,” said a villager who witnessed the entire episode.

“After the rescue operation, they moved toward the forest as if nothing had happened,” he added.

Sources in the forest department said a herd of around 25 elephants, including the calf, had been roaming vegetable fields in the Lalgarh area since Tuesday night in search of food.

The foresters had been tracking the herd as part of their regular duties to prevent any human-animal conflict.

It was around 6am when the herd was near the Lalgarh police station, trying to enter the forest after roaming through fields adjacent to at least five nearby villages.

While crossing a 2.5-foot-wide concrete drain, the baby elephant, who was trailing the herd, suddenly fell into it and started groaning.

“Apart from the mother, no other animals noticed it and continued walking towards the forest. The mother, however, returned and continued her efforts to get her baby out of the drain for at least 10 minutes,” said a forester who was present during the entire rescue operation.

When the mother failed to rescue the baby alone, a senior forester instructed that an earthmover be brought in for rescue, as is their usual procedure.

“Suddenly, another elephant from the herd turned back to help the mother, probably following her trumpets,” the forester added.

Their efforts also failed, but success came when the third full-grown elephant arrived to help.

However, senior foresters said that elephants live in unity and try to tackle any crisis collectively. In many cases, they cannot succeed because of external obstacles.

“Though we are always ready and equipped to help animals in crisis, in Wednesday’s incident, the elephants did not need assistance as they completed the task with their collective efforts,” said S. Kulandaivel, the principal conservator of forests in the Western Circle.

Kulandaivel recalled an incident of an elephant calf rescue on the night of February 4, also in Lalgarh. Then, foresters had witnessed how a mother elephant could wait for four hours, patiently and silently, as they worked to rescue her calf from a well.