A female wild elephant roamed tea estates and fringe areas of Jalpaiguri district’s Banarhat block throughout Friday, her trunk carrying the carcass of her calf.

A herd of wild elephants followed the mother elephant.

A number of teams from the state forest department reached the spot but till Friday evening could neither recover the carcass nor steer the grieving mother elephant to the forest.

Local sources said that in the morning, the calf died after falling into a drain at the plantations of Ambari tea estate in Banarhat. The mother elephant managed to take out the calf’s carcass from the drain. Then, she started roaming around with her truck wrapped around the carcass of her calf.

“It is indeed a rare scene. The elephant is carrying the carcass and moving from one tea estate to another. Occasionally, she is putting down the carcass and trumpeting loudly, then again picking the trunk up and walking ahead. She is being steadily followed by a herd of elephants and we suspect the female elephant is a member of the herd,” said Sima Choudhury, an honorary wildlife warden who had reached Banarhat.

The elephant, local residents said, initially came from Ambari. It then crossed the Diana forest and entered the closed Redbank tea estate.

Later, she moved into different locations of the garden and entered the plantations of neighbouring tea estates.

As the news spread, teams from the wildlife squad of Binnaguri tracked the animals.

“The mother elephant appears agitated. Hence, even our experienced team did not dare make attempts to recover the calf’s carcass. Another problem in recovering the carcass is the elephant herd following the mother,” said a forest officer.

Till Friday evening, foresters were seen monitoring the animals and planning how to steer them back to the forest.