Spooked Elephants Go On Rampage

An impatient driver’s honking horn spooked a line of circus elephants outside a shopping mall, causing a near-riot that left windows smashed, cars dented and one pachyderm injured.

Several confused, trumpeting elephants lumbered through the parking lot Thursday at the North Hanover Mall, breaking a van window and sitting on several cars. They also crashed through windows at a store.

“They just went between the cars like they were toy cars,” said Addi Scholle of Littlestown. “The trainers were chasing after them. The elephants were going crazy, making all kinds of noise. We were scared.”

One of the six elephants with the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus was cut and was treated by a veterinarian.

A circus executive said the driver of a pickup truck was to blame. “He was behind the elephants, he was impatient, and scared the elephants.”