A herd of wild elephants reached the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town on Thursday, walked by the Teesta river and reached the railway bridge close to NH17.

Hundreds of curious onlookers reached the river bank to catch a glimpse of the elephants. Several clicked photos and shot videos, prompting officials of the state forest department to deploy personnel to prevent any untoward incident.

“We spotted the herd of around 10 elephants wandering near the river since Wednesday night. It also destroyed paddy and vegetables cultivated by locals on the dry river bed,” said Sriram Bala, a resident of Vivekandapally, a locality near the railway bridge.

Eyewitness Sanjay Sarkar said there were a number of calves in the herd. “In fact, a calf went into the water where the river is deep. An adult elephant of the herd saved the calf from drowning,” he said.

As the herd kept on roaming near the river and on its dry bed, the crowd swelled on the river bank. Foresters of Gorumara wildlife division, along with personnel from other wings of the department, reached the spot to keep a watch on the herd throughout the day and controlled the crowd that attempted to get closer to the herd.

“Elephants often visit the Teesta river to bathe as well as forage for crops and vegetables cultivated on the riverbed. Among these areas are Mouamari, Premganj, Nathua Char and Basusuba which are in Sadar, Mainaguri, Kranti blocks of Jalpaiguri district,” said Dwijpratim Sen, the divisional forest officer of Gorumara.

In the evening, the herd started walking back from the river towards Baikunthapur forest, much to the relief of foresters.

Elephants were also sighted in the Dooars on Thursday.

Since the morning, foresters of Diana range were busy near Nagrakata creating a passage for a herd of 16 elephants to cross NH17 by halting vehicles. The herd was stuck in a forest near Dharanipur tea estate.

In the afternoon, foresters drove the animals inside the forest by bursting crackers.

“We could manage to drive the elephants inside the Diana forest in the afternoon,” Ashesh Paul, the range officer, said.

Foresters posted in nearby Khunia forest range drove off two elephants at Ambakhola Bridge over Jaldhaka river near Nagrakata. Here too, hundreds of people gathered to watch the elephants which eventually went back to the forest.