Elephant runs loose in Butte after escaping from traveling circus

BUTTE — An elephant was running loose on Harrison Avenue in Butte on Tuesday after it temporarily escaped from a traveling circus that’s in town.

Butte Civic Center Manager Bill Melvin confirmed an elephant temporarily got loose from the Jordan World Circus that’s in town in the civic center. Melvin said the elephant’s handlers were washing the female elephant outside the civic center when a passing vehicle backfired and spooked the animal.

WATCH: Elephant goes for a stroll down Harrison Avenue

The elephant ran across a busy Harrison Avenue stopping traffic while a handler ran after it. The spooked animal was soon safely corralled back at the civic center without injury, according to Melvin.

Cell phone video taken by Brittany McGinnis shows the elephant running across Harrison Avenue near the with someone running alongside it and through the parking lot of the Town Pump gas station.