A three-month-old elephant calf on Sunday morning was found to have strayed from its herd, spurring hundreds of people from Manabari tea garden, some 45km from Jalpaiguri town, to take selfies with the calf, photo-shoot the animal and touch it.

This selfie act by the 400-odd crowd that paid scant respect to social distancing norms also permanently separated the calf from the herd as elephants are known not to accept calves touched by humans.

Sukhdeb Oraon, a resident of the closed garden, said that a herd of 11 elephants had entered the tea garden from the adjoining Bhuttabari forest on Saturday night.

“Early morning we found that the calf had failed to follow the herd and strayed into the plantation,” said Oraon.

The forest guards from Targhera range in Malbazar subdivision were informed and they reached by 7.30am.

Soon around 30 foresters from Gorumara, Baikunthapur and Kalimpong also reached the spot but by then a 400-strong crowd had already gathered.

“People wanted to touch the calf and take selfies with it even as the calf started wandering directionless in the garden,” said Madan Chhetri, another resident.

The foresters struggled for nearly four hours to manage the crowd and rescue the calf.

Nisha Goswami, divisional forest officer, Gorumara, said: “Our staff went to the tea garden, where the three-month-old elephant calf had strayed from the nearby forest. The rescued animal will be kept at the Gorumara National Park.”

Health officials expressed concern over the assembly of such a big crowd that ignored all Covid-19 safety norms.

“When a large number of people gather at a point without maintaining physical distance or wearing protective gear, there are apprehensions of the virus spreading,” Susanta Roy, the officer on special duty (north Bengal) of the state health department, said.