Elephant escapes circus, roams streets of Montana

Montana: A normal day in Montana took a turn when locals reported an unusual sighting: an elephant on the loose in Butte. The incident was captured...

Montana: A normal day in Montana took a turn when locals reported an unusual sighting: an elephant on the loose in Butte.

The incident was captured on video by stunned witnesses as the animal wove through traffic on Tuesday. A man, who appeared to be her handler, can be seen running alongside the large mammal.

“An elephant walking down the road,” a bystander can be heard saying in a video posted to Facebook by a user named Brittany McGinnis. “Oh my God,” the witness says, laughing.

As the elephant passes vehicles on the street, trunk and tail swinging, a bystander in the video says, “Only in Butte. A circus elephant got loose.” Local media reported that the elephant escaped from the Jordan World Circus, which was holding a show at the Butte Civic Center on Tuesday, according to its website. The circus did not immediately respond to a request for comment early yesterday.

Butte Civic Center Manager Bill Melvin told KXLF that a female elephant temporarily escaped from the Jordan World Circus. He said the animal’s handlers were washing it outside the civic center when a passing vehicle backfired. The elephant was spooked, then managed to break free, Melvin said.