A circus elephant has caused quite a ruckus after escaping from its handlers and briefly wandering around town.
Footage aired by NBC Montana showed the large mammal, reportedly a 58-year-old Asian elephant named Viola, running across traffic in the middle of a busy roadway in Butte, Montana on Tuesday.
The elephant then paraded through parking lots of a gas station and a casino, while a circus handler was seen chasing after her with a bullhook in hand.
“A f****** elephant is walking down the road,” Brittany McGinnis, a local bystander who recorded the viral clip, can be heard saying. “Only in Butte. A circus elephant got loose.”
Photos taken by several bystanders showed the elephant on a neighbourhood’s front lawn, where she reportedly defecated, according to NBC Montana.
The elephant was reportedly in a parking lot of the city’s venue getting washed by her trainers ahead of a performance that day, Civic Center Manager Bill Melvin told KXLY.
The mammal, however, made its great escape from her pen after getting spooked by a backfiring vehicle.
The elephant was travelling with the Jordan World Circus, which is scheduled to perform two shows in the Butte Civic Center at 4.00pm and at 7.00pm local time on Tuesday, according to its website.
The escape only lasted about 10 minutes, and the elephant was secured and escorted safely back to its handlers, according to ABC Fox Montana and KXLY.
There was no property damage during Viola’s brief stroll, with neither the mammal nor any person sustaining any injuries.
Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) condemned Tuesday’s incident in a statement, saying the elephant’s brief escape threatens herself and the public.
The organization alleged it was not the first time an elephant has escaped from its trainers at the Jordan World Circus, which has stirred backlash from animal rights groups for its alleged treatment of animals in the past.
“Elephants in circuses are violently trained, forced to perform tricks that are harmful to their health, and chained for hours on end,” PAWS said on X.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released its own statement, claiming the incident was a “failure of the circus to protect Viola and the public.”
