Elephant escapes from Oklahoma circus

Posted Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints

Topics: Oklahoma

A

Have more to add? News tip? Tell us

The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma’s rural highways. But an elephant?

A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday.

"Didn’t have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road," driver Bill Carpenter said Thursday. "At the very last second, I said 'elephant!’ "

Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and sideswiped the female elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid.

The elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.

Looking for comments?

Join the discussion

The Star-Telegram is pleased to provide this opportunity for you to share your thoughts and observations about news topics. We enjoy lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask that you refrain from using profanity, racist or hate speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising or external links or including remarks that are off topic. To post comments, you must be a registered user of Star-Telegram.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.