Three elephants escape from St. Louis circus

MISSOURI -- Three zoo elephants made a break for it on Saturday, escaping from their enclosure and getting as far as the parking lot of the St Louis venue where they were performing. They damaged two cars before being apprehended by their handlers. The elephants are part of the Moolah Shrine Circus

 

Dennis Burkholder, a spokesman for St. Louis' Shriners, told CNN the damaged cars parked at the Family Arena belong to circus employees or Shriners. . . The elephants didn't get a dent or a scratch, but after their ordeal, the circus gave them Saturday night off, Burkholder said.”

 

KSDK reports that “witnesses say the elephants were spooked by loud noises when they ran off.”

 

"We saw all these people running after them, and they were all screaming 'stop, stop,' and several of the circus people were trying to run alongside them," witness Karyn Tunnicliff told KSDK.

 

 

 

"[A trainer] yelled ‘We need pretzels, anything, just get me some food,'" Karyn's daughter, Allie Tunnicliff, said.

 

The circus will go on as scheduled on Sunday.

 

(JRN - Mar 23, 2014)