Jumbo runaway recaptured after freedom bid

An elephant escaped from a circus today and ran among pedestrians and motorists on a busy Philippine road before a truck driver blocked its escape.

The 21-year-old Jumbo, the biggest of 10 elephants from Thailand performing in Quezon city, was about to be showered but became “agitated” because of the summer heat and broke free, said Shige Ijima, a son of the show’s promoter.

The elephant’s regular Thai handler was ill today and another trainer took over.

The animal was not used to being handled by another person, said a spokeswoman .

Motorcycle police cleared the way for the elephant as it lumbered against the flow of traffic on the congested road before reaching a busy intersection.

Two Thai handlers grabbed a steel chain attached to one of its legs as it hesitated when an empty beer truck blocked the road.

They then wrapped the chain around a tree.

The handlers fed it bananas before they injected tranquillisers.

The elephant used its snout to slurp up pools of water and mud to spray on its back.

Hundreds of residents, many of them children seeing a live elephant for the first time, cheered the impromptu show.

More than six hours after escaping, the elephant finally succumbed to the tranquillisers.

Workers tied it up to a crane, but the rope came loose and the animal fell on its back, its tusks damaging the rear of a taxi parked nearby.

There was no immediate word on whether it was seriously hurt.

The elephant was later lifted onto the back of a truck and returned to the circus compound.