'You Hit A What?' SUV Nearly Slams Into Elephant

Baack · Nov 6, 2009

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It's not unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma's rural highways. But an elephant?

A couple driving home from church nearly slammed into a giant pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday.

"Didn't have time to hit the brakes. The elephant blended in with the road," driver Bill Carpenter said Thursday. "At the very last second I said 'elephant!'"

Carpenter, 68, said he swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping the 29-year-old female elephant on U.S. 81 in Enid, about 80 miles north of Oklahoma City.

"So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us," he said. "We'd have been history."

The couple, who own a wheat farm, weren't injured. But the 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant was being examined Thursday for a broken tusk and a leg wound. A local veterinarian said it appeared to have escaped major injury.

"I thought this can't be happening. Out here you could hit a deer or a cow, but this can't be happening. The good Lord was with us," Carpenter said. The elephant's tusk punched through the side of the SUV, tearing up sheet metal.
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http://www.wisn.com/news/21531071/detail.html

Baack · Nov 6, 2009

I would like the government for our own good to mandate all new vehicles be large and elephant proof

luvmyhubby · Nov 6, 2009

OMgosh, thanks for the laugh, I know its serious but geeezzz that is funny

truckerdave1970 · Nov 6, 2009

I am writing my Congressional rep. and Senators to write legislation to allow for elephant crossing zone signs to be made and posted as needed, also we need to seize whatever property nessacary to allow the elephant population to rebuild their numbers. The free range North American elephant should be on the endangered species list! Americans should be forced to forfeit their land/homes so the elephants can survive! Politicians need to prioritize the protection or our precious pachyderm pals!

Baack · Nov 6, 2009

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