Oklahoma may be better known for cattle drives, but one couple had a lucky escape from injury when they hit an elephant on a rural highway.
Bill and Deena Carpenter were heading home after an evening church service when their SUV collided with an escaped circus elephant, which had been wandering towards them on the inside lane of the US 81 road.
Swerving at the last minute, wheat-farmer Bill sideswiped Kamba, a 29-year-old African elephant who had escaped from a circus set up on a local fairground site, the Enid News and Eagle said.
Although 68-year-old Bill and his wife escaped without injuries, Kamba was found by a local vet hiding in bushes by the highway. She was suffering from a broken tusk tip and a leg wound, but is not believed to have sustained any major injuries.
Bill said that the 8-foot-tall, two-tonne female blended into the road until the last minute, though he was confident in the moment that it "wasn't a deer or a cow".
The oncoming elephant ran into the side of the car, knocking it up on two wheels, though the farmer said his evasive manoeuvre had avoided a more serious front impact.
"I thought this was wheat and cattle country, but not elephant country," he added.
