Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Circus elephant dashes onto highway, killed by bus."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > September > 24 > Entry
Circus elephant dashes onto highway, killed by bus
This has got to win as strangest news item of the week down here in Mexico: on Monday night a four-ton circus elephant, spooked by a black cat running between its massive legs, escaped from his pen, wandered through the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec, and ended up on a busy highway where it was hit and killed by a bus. The bus driver was also killed in the collision, which left the bus crumpled like an accordion.
The elephant, named Hildra, even passed through a toll booth during its wild escape. “It crossed through the toll booth in lane 3 before the amazement of employees and drivers, who couldn’t believe their eyes,” is how the El Universal newspaper described it.
Hildra had to be removed with a tow truck and will likely be buried. The Union Circus will no doubt face some legal action and employees are pointing the fingers at each other. Hildra’s handler said he was never trained to take care of elephants and did all he could to run down the elephant after it crashed through what’s being described as a flimsy metal gate. “I wanted to follow her, but she was very fast,” Marcelino Flores told El Universal between sobs. “Why didn’t I quit this morning? I knew I couldn’t take care of animals, I know how they are.”
Luis Arrellano, the owner of the circus, promptly denied any responsibility, telling police when he arrived on the scene (according to El Universal): “It was (Flores’) fault, you should arrest him, not me.”
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By Jenay Brooke
September 25, 2008 3:15 PM | Link to this
I would hazard a guess that the elephant was not enjoying circus life and was doing all she could to escape it. Elephants’ most basic behavioral needs are denied by circus life. These intelligent, sensitive, social animals deserve better than to travel in trucks from one venue to another to do stupid tricks for handlers that don’t know anything about elephants. This is wonderful opportunity to let the remaining elephants go to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.