Forest department officials have been able to rescue an elephant calf that that strayed away from it's heard and had fallen into a well.

The animal cried for help, attracting the attention of residents near the Bundu town in Jharkhand. The police and the forest department officials followed to the site and helped the calf come out from the well with the help of a crane. Local residents said that the calf was part of the herd looking for food and might have failed to spot the well and had fallen into it.

The officials were able to bring out the baby elephant only after about five hours of digging with the help of an earth-moving machine. Residents cheered the rescue mission and then sent the elephant into the woods so that it does not return to the town and possibility find its way back to the herd.

Experts say that increasing level of deforestation has affected elephant habitat in India and elephants often emerge on human settlements looking for food. The increased encroachment of forestland continues to affect several animals in the country even as the government has taken serious steps to preserve India's wildlife.