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A circus elephant loose on a busy Montana street causes a stir

The elephant ran across a busy Harrison Avenue in the city of Butte, stopping traffic while a handler ran after it.
A circus elephant loose on a busy Montana street causes a stir
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Now, this is one of those stories that you've got to see to believe.

An elephant was running loose on a busy Montana street Tuesday after it temporarily escaped from a traveling circus.

Butte Civic Center manager Bill Melvin confirmed an elephant temporarily got loose from the Jordan World Circus that’s in town in the civic center. Melvin said the elephant’s handlers were washing the female elephant outside the civic center when a passing vehicle backfired and spooked the animal.

The elephant ran across a busy Harrison Avenue, stopping traffic while a handler ran after it. The spooked animal was soon safely corralled back at the civic center without injury, according to Melvin.

Cellphone video taken by Brittany McGinnis shows the elephant running across Harrison Avenue with someone running alongside it and through the parking lot of the Town Pump gas station.

The city of Butte lies in Southwest Montana, between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

This story was originally published by John Emeigh at Scripps News Butte

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