Elephant runs away from circus

Shoppers in Blackpool, Ireland were shocked to see an elephant running around a car park on Tuesday.

Baby, a 2.5-tonne Asian elephant, escaped from a circus outside a busy shopping centre.

It broke a barrier and galloped about 200 metres to the car park.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGER OF LOCAL COFFEE SHOP, EGLE VILUMAITE, SAYING:

"Elephant actually escaped and he was running around on his own and then you could see the guys from the circus, probably they look after him, and the elephant wasn't happy. I'd say he was scared as well because it was around 4 o'clock so there was a lot of cars, a lot of people around."

Nobody was hurt from the incident, and Baby's handler brought him back to the circus, saying he would not have harmed anyone.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ELEPHANT HANDLER AT COURTNEY'S CIRCUS, JOEY GARTNER, SAYING:

"Danger, you cannot say danger because we know he don't eat people. All right? That, you must understand."

But the problem may not be completely solved. The handlers say Baby ran away from the circus because he refused to take a shower.

Michaela Cabrera, Reuters.