Two elephants broke free from a ‘cruel’ travelling circus to play in the snow.
Residents in Russia’s third-largest city, Yekaterinburg, were left stunned after the beasts began to roll and cavort on the ground in -5C temperatures.
Their handlers desperately tried to bundle runaway elephants Carla, 45, and Roni, 50, back into the truck.
They pulled on their trunks, pushed them across the street but the giants resisted and walked away.
The Indian elephants are from the controversial Togni Circus from Italy, which now tours in Russia after live animals were banned from big-top performances at home.
A spokesman for Yekaterinburg State Circus, which hosted Togni, said: ‘The elephants have their own character and emotions, they are very smart.
‘They walked outside and got very happy from seeing the snow, the trees and the pedestrians who they took for spectators.’
The circus added that Roni loitered near a tree but the more adventurous Carla decided to make a tour of the city.
Handlers finally got a rope around Carla’s front legs but it took a dozen people to pull her back.
She reluctantly obeyed after playing in the snow.
The circus added: ‘The elephants wanted to get some new experiences before a long journey, and they got them.’
The elephants are part of tour that has already seen them travel more than 10,000 miles around Siberia.
After they were caught, they were bundled into the truck which is now on a two-day 1,440 mile drive to St Petersburg.
There was concern last year over the Togni troupe’s itinerary and with complaints in Russia over the ‘cruelty’ faced by the elephants along with tigers and other animals being moved in cramped trucks.
Animal rights activists in Russia have condemned the practice, with one campaigner saying: ‘Some European countries like Italy have banned all animals in travelling circuses because they’re cruel – but then the troupe responds by coming to Russia where the tortuous travelling distances are even bigger, the longest in the world.’
Irina Novozhilova, of animal rights group VITA, said: ‘Circuses are always cruel beyond limits. And circuses with animals should be banned.’
Togni’s Russian art director dismissed the complaints.
Sergey Bondarchuk added: ‘Such circuses are traditional. We love our animals a lot, they are our family.
‘They too love the circus, they get bored without work.
‘Our animals will live and die with us, they won’t survive in the wild.’
He added that the trucks have air conditioning and heating and they stop every three hours to clean and feed the animals.
He admitted travelling the vast distances across Siberia was ‘hard’ but added: ‘The animals are like children for us.
‘If something happens to them, we lose our jobs.’
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