Spooked elephant escapes circus and thunders through traffic in Montana, video shows

A circus elephant escaped after she was spooked by a backfiring car — and was spotted thundering through traffic in the streets of a Montana town, according to media reports and video.

So where does an escaped elephant go? A convenience store, of course.

Town Pump gas station in Butte shared a video of the elephant’s April 16 excursion through town on Facebook.

“It was QUITE a spectacle this afternoon at the site of our Butte 1 store & Montana Lil’s on Harrison Avenue,” the store said on Facebook. “As you may have seen from several different angles already… we had an unscheduled visit from a pachyderm on the lam.”

The video shows the elephant strolling right past cars on a street near the store before turning into the parking lot with a handler trailing closely behind her.

“This sweet girl dashed through our parking lot after being spooked by a backfiring vehicle while preparations were taking place for the circus tonight at the Butte Civic Center,” the store said. “Thankfully, no injuries were reported, and following this short afternoon stroll she is now back with her circus family.”

The elephant was having a bath outside the Butte Civic Center before the Jordan World Circus show at the venue that night when a passing car backfired and scared her, KXLF reported.

“The circus, of course, is very professional, and they had a professional trainer and he was real calm and the animal was calm and they were able to get her right back,” Butte Civic Center General Manager Bill Melvin told the Daily Montanan.

Several people joked about the spectacle in comments on the Facebook post.

“Just wanted to run and get some circus peanuts before the show,” someone said.

Others said they felt bad for the escaped elephant.

“I’d run away too … that’s no life for any animal,” someone said.

The town of Butte is about a 70-mile drive southwest from Helena.

The Jordan World Circus is scheduled to perform in Helena on Wednesday, April 17, according to its website.

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