Two circus elephants in Yekaterinburg, Russia made a run for it on Thursday.
Just to roll around in the snow!
That must have been kind of surprising for residents of Yekaterinburg in Siberia after two elephants ran away from a visiting circus to play in the snow.
Videos and pictures show the two elephants, 45-year-old Carla and 50-year-old Roni, wandering around the city, rolling in the snow and blocking traffi in the city center as they splash in the snow.
Ranni, the male elephant, stayed in the area of the loading dock. Karla, however, decided to trek across a busy street and roll around in the snow.
She crossed a busy street and headed to a residential building, gently pushing a man across the street who tried to stop her by holding on to her trunk.
Circus art director and host Sergey Bondarchuk told Russian state media:
“The elephants have their own character and emotions, they are very smart.
“They walked outside and got very happy from seeing the snow, the trees and the pedestrians whom they took for spectators.
“We love our animals a lot, they are our family. They too love the circus, they get bored without work. Our animals will live and die with us, they won’t survive in the wild.”
Eventually, handlers were able to get ropes around one of the elephant’s front legs, but it took a dozen people – handlers and helpful locals – to pull her back to their truck.
“The elephants wanted to get some new experiences before a long journey, and they got them,” the circus added.
The elephants escaped when their circus tried to load them into a truck to head to their next destination.
I would also resist and walk away if I had to travel several hundred kilometers in such a dark truck trailer. What about you? More about elephants and strange animal news headlines on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [Siberian Times]
They were caged too long without being allowed to roam. (stressed)
Beautiful and Sad.
how small that truck for them.
Kirsten called me Ranni ?, kind Russia