SUV Nearly Slams Into Escaped Elephant

[Roamer]

SUV nearly slams into elephant on Oklahoma highway

By The Associated Press

November 06, 2009, 2:00AM

Billy Hefton, Enid News & Eagle/The Associated Press

An elephant that escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds caused an accident Wednesday as it ran north on the U.S. 81 bypass in Enid, Okla.

It's not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma's rural highways. But an elephant?

An Oklahoma 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 ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female Asian elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles north of Oklahoma City.

"So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us," he said. "We'd have been history."

The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren't injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.

"I thought this can't be happening. Out here you could hit a deer or a cow, but this can't be happening. The good Lord was with us," Carpenter said. The elephant's tusk punched through the side of the SUV, tearing up sheet metal.

After sideswiping the elephant, his wife, Deena, flagged some people down and used their cell phone to call police.

"The dispatcher didn't believe her: 'You hit a what?'" he said. "I told my wife, I don't know whether to cry or laugh."

Enid veterinarian Dr. Dwight Olson said the elephant was hiding in some bushes just off the highway when he arrived shortly after the accident. Handlers from the circus were able to calm it down, and Olson cleaned the leg wound and gave it some pain killer.

The elephant was taken Thursday to the veterinary school at Oklahoma State University for a follow-up exam.

"I don't believe there's a broken bone, but I don't have an X-ray room big enough to examine it," Olson said.

The elephant had escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds earlier Wednesday after something spooked it while it was being loaded into a truck with another elephant, Olson said.

A booking agent for the circus, Rachael Bellman, said she was unaware the incident, and a telephone message left with circus officials wasn't immediately returned.

Carpenter joked about being involved in such a bizarre accident on what is usually a peaceful church night.

"I don't know what was in the wine, but it must have been pretty strong," he said.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2..._elephant.html

Sean Murphy of The Associated Press wrote this report.

[Jute]

I'm very relieved that neither the couple nor the elephant were seriously injured. Since the couple wasn't hurt at all, I'll focus on the elephant - I feel so badly for her; she must have been terrified. I hope that she really is ok.

[Roamer]

http://www.foxprovidence.com/dpp/new...-1257537219322

Circus elephant hit by SUV is OK

Spokesman: Elephant treated by veterinarians

Updated: Friday, 06 Nov 2009, 2:53 PM EST
Published : Friday, 06 Nov 2009, 2:52 PM ESTOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A circus elephant that escaped and was hit by a sport utility vehicle in northwestern Oklahoma is apparently back with its owner.

An Oklahoma State University spokesman says the elephant was treated by veterinarians at the school and released to its owner. Spokesman Gary Shutt declined to talk about the animal's injuries except to say they were not major.

A report filed by Enid police says Douglas Terranova of Kaufman, Texas, is the elephant's owner. Terranova did not immediately return a phone message left Friday.

Deb Robinson, a volunteer for the animal rights group In Defense of Animals, says the group plans to file a complaint against Terranova with the U.S. Department of Agriculture concerning Wednesday's incident.

A USDA complaint says two elephants owned by Terranova escaped from a circus in Kansas in June 2008.