Animal welfare groups in Denmark are intensifying their calls for a total ban on wild animals in the country's circuses after an annual elephant "bathing show" ended with one of the agitated animals smashing a vehicle as bystanders narrowly escaped injury.
The annual event in the small seaside town of Karrebaeksminde sees elephants from a local circus, Cirkus Arenas, escorted to a nearby beach for a dip in the ocean and attracts large numbers of spectators. This year's event had drawn record crowds, with many thousands reportedly gathering along the elephants' route and on the beach.
Elephant smashes into car
It appears that the proximity of spectators and the noise of hooting cars caused the elephants to became agitated, until one of the animals broke away to run among bystanders before lifting up and denting a parked car. "The big animal stamped on the car's hood, then gave the car some heavy blows with the trunk," says a media outlet that had filmed the elephants bathing in the sea during the event earlier.
Local animal welfare group Dyrenes Beskyttelse says the animals showed clear signs of stress leading up to the incident, including flapping their ears, and cautions that the out-of-control situation could have had much more serious consequences. "The incident on Saturday in which a circus elephant went berserk in Karrebaeksminde shows that wild animals do not belong in the circus," says the group in a statement.
According to the organisation, Danish law already prohibits circuses from using most wild animals in their acts, but elephants, zebras and sea lions are exempt from this ban for "historical and traditional" reasons. The group is urging Danish residents to sign its petition calling on government to introduce a complete ban. "Circuses cannot provide wild animals like elephants with [the necessary] safety or animal welfare," says the group.
A group of distraught circus elephants' recent rampage in Danish seaside town Karrebaeksminde was caught on video by a tourist and has sparked animal rights activists to petition Denmark to ban wild animals from circuses.
\"The elephant clearly got irritated after being hit and started to push and lift the vehicle,\" Nygard, originally from Norway, said. \"The car owner tried to reach the car, but the circus staff stopped him. The windows got crushed and there was a lot of damage to the front.\"
\"The incident Saturday in which a circus elephant went berserk in Karrebaeksminde shows that wild animals do not belong in the circus, wrote Dyrenes Beskyttelse, an Danish animal rights group whose name translates to \"Animal Protection\" in English.
This recorded sighting of a breeding herd of elephants in the Kruger National Park in the South Africa turns into an alarming situation in which a few of the elephants decide to charge the vehicle in their presence. Watch as the elephants turn on their onlookers and how these safari guides had to handle the situation:
Interestingly, the clip shows 3 elephants acting out towards the vehicle, but contrary to what would be expected, it was not the largest elephant that carried out the charge. Courteney offers his insights:
As the frightened elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorbikes, crowds of people gathered to watch from balconies and roof tops. Some followed from a distance as the elephant moved through the streets.
It was then taken to a park for domesticated pachyderms that is maintained by the forest department. Once the effect of the tranquilizer wore off, authorities planned to return the elephant to the forest, Rai said.
Elephants are increasingly coming into contact with people in India, as the human population of 1.25 billion soars and cities and towns grow at the expense of jungles and other elephant habitats. In India and Sri Lanka, more than 400 elephants and 250 humans are killed each year.
On Wednesday, another wild elephant trampled a farmer to death in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The farmer had been sleeping in his paddy field when the elephant appeared, police told Press Trust of India.
It suddenly turned around, walked rapidly towards them. They decided the best option was to remain stationary. They only started moving the vehicle away when the elephant broke into a full charge, but it was too late. The bull started attacking the vehicle and flipped it over about 20 metres into thick bush.
In the meantime, rangers went to look for the elephant, fearing it could attack again. It was located a few metres from the attack site, with another tourist vehicle in close proximity. Rangers managed to get the vehicle to safety and isolated the elephant before it was shot dead.
Footage has been released, which shows exactly what happened just prior to the elephant attack. Have a look and let us know what you think! After watching this video, do think that it was justified for the rangers to kill the elephant bull? Do you think the tourists had enough time to have made a safe escape?
So sad that this elephant had to be killed. Elephants are one of the most compassionate, kind, emotional beings out there. He was obviously not happy because he was in pain from his injury. Pity the people involved did not notice any strange behavior before getting so close. Sad that the elephant had to pay with his life. I myself have been attacked by an elephant (it was a freak accident) and I am very happy to say that my elephant is alive and well because it was no ones fault. RIP Great one!
I cannot believe most comments I see below. Firstly there are too many cars allowed in te park during holidays. Secondly there are far too many elephant in Kruger. They become frustrated and annoyed in dominace games and especially old bulls become grumpy. I have spent many days in the park as close as 5m from elephant herds. You can pick up aggression very quickly, but 99% of them will never show aggression to humans or cars. Do not however follow an irritated bulle or come between a cow and her calf. This is looking for trouble. People commenting about fences are simply uninformed and should keep to watching TV on wild animals. This is Africa!
I think the park rangers are sick and disgusting for not protecting the elephant in musth in the first place..keep tourists OUT..and why kill him..it is perfectly natural behavior. Just a waste of a beautiful life..hope all you greedy tourists are happy and you park rangers can go to hell.
I think that this incident is due to poor jugdment by the driver of the car. On the other hand the elephant population in the KNP is to high for the amount of visitors. About time the Greenies put up their hand and come with a solution.
The elephant suddenly emerged from the bush and stood still on the road. 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