Students and teachers at a government school in Chekadi village, Wayanad, kerala panicked today when a stray baby elephant wandered into the school campus during class hours.
Chekadi is a forest-surrounded tribal hamlet where elephant movement is frequent.
Around noon, a one-year-old calf slipped through a partially open school gate and approached the classrooms.
Teachers quickly locked the children inside to keep them safe.
Forest officials were alerted, and they safely captured the calf with a net and released it back into a nearby forest.
Officials said the calf had strayed away from its mother, and efforts are underway to reunite them.
Incidents of elephant calves getting separated and straying onto the Pulppalli–Pavaly road are common, but the arrival of a calf during school hours caused unusual alarm among students today.
