Three wild elephants entered Alipurduar town late on Friday night and roamed around in at least three municipal wards.

After some three hours of effort, foresters could steer them to the Buxa Tiger Reserve on the outskirts of the town.

One was an adult tusker, the other two were sub-adults.

Sources said people from ward 4 told foresters that wild elephants had been spotted. Around midnight, four youths returning home on motorcycles from a wedding in ward 16 spotted two elephants near the railway crossing that cuts the town in the ward. They could not spot the third and they initially mistook the two they saw as gaurs (Indian bisons).

A closer look revealed that they weren’t gaurs but elephants. The youths clicked photographs and returned to the wedding party to inform others. The elephants by then entered ward 17 beside New Alipurduar railway station.

Foresters of the west division of the BTR started a search for the elephants and after some time, located them in ward 17. Foresters on vehicles used searchlights to steer the elephants out of town. The animals headed towards Chengpara, a village on the east end of the town outside the civic area as the team kept watch.

“Around 3.30am, the elephants entered the BTR via Majherdabri tea estate. We believe they entered the town the same way,” said Budhwaraj Sewa, field director of the BTR.

“It is good that the December chill kept people at home and the roads were deserted. Hence, man-animal conflict was averted,” said a forest officer. “We came to know that initially the elephants had entered ward 4 of the town and then moved to wards 16 and 17. They devoured some banana plants and damaged some other trees, but thankfully, there was no major damage and no one was attacked,” the forested added.