Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Elephant calf dies trapped in muddy field in Bengal's Junglemahal
A baby elephant, only two and a half years old, went for a walk in the forest with its mommy and some other elephants.
The group got lost and had been away from their big family for a few days.
They came out of the forest to a field where people grow rice, hoping to find food.
The baby elephant stepped into very deep, sticky mud and got stuck.
Its mommy and the other elephants tried for hours to pull it out.
The mommy even pushed on the baby with her leg to help.
Sadly, they could not free the baby, and it died.
Forest workers took the baby to find out exactly what happened.
This sad story reminds us that wild elephants sometimes come near farms to look for food.
A two-and-a-half-year-old elephant calf died after becoming trapped in a muddy paddy field in the Chandra forest range of Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district.
The calf had been moving with four other elephants after the group became separated from its herd a few days earlier.
The elephants emerged from the forest searching for paddy, and the calf became stuck deep in the mud shortly after midnight on Saturday.
The mother elephant and other elephants spent hours trying to pull the calf free, with the mother reportedly pressing on the calf with her leg during the failed rescue.
Forest officials took the carcass for a post-mortem and are investigating the incident, which highlights growing elephant interaction with agricultural fields along forest fringes.
- Who
- A two-and-a-half-year-old elephant calf, its mother and four other elephants, and forest officials of the Chandra forest range.
- What
- The elephant calf died after becoming trapped deep in the mud of a paddy field.
- When
- Shortly after midnight on Saturday.
- Where
- Chandra forest range in Paschim Medinipur district, Bengal's Junglemahal.
- Why
- The elephants had emerged from the forest searching for paddy; the calf sank into the mud and rescue attempts failed.
- Age of calf
- Two and a half years
- Location
- Chandra forest range, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal
- Time of incident
- Shortly after midnight on Saturday
- Group size
- Calf plus four other elephants
- Cause of death
- Under investigation; post-mortem examination ordered
- Related incident
- A one-and-a-half-year-old rhino calf was rescued in Falakata after its mother died