The state forest department rescued a female elephant and its calf in Alipurduar early on Monday after a rescue operation for around three hours.

Sources said a herd of elephants had entered the Makrapara tea estate in Madarihat block of the district while returning from the India-Bhutan border. Around 1.30am, the female and its calf fell into a water reservoir of the tea garden.

“The workers and the employees could hear the animals groaning. They informed us. Soon, teams from our department rushed to the spot,” said Dwijapratim Sen, the divisional forest officer of Gorumara wildlife division.

On reaching the spot, they found both the elephants struggling in the reservoir.

“The female elephant was not letting anybody get close to the calf. She had become aggressive, possibly because of fear. Thus, we decided to break a portion of the reservoir to reach them. Also, boulders were dropped to increase the water level so that the water could be drained out and the animals could be brought out,” said Sen.

Initially, the foresters rescued the calf. Later, the female elephant was also brought out of the reservoir.

“It took almost three hours to rescue the animals. The garden management also helped us in our endeavours,” the forest officer added.

After the rescue, both the elephants headed for the Makrapara forest.

“We monitored their movement and eventually found that they had mingled with the herd,” the forest officer said.