An elephant is led © through rush hour traffic in the Italian city of L'Aquila (Abruzzo) Monica Pilolli Lav AQ
Commuters in the Italian city of L'Aquila felt transported to India these days: An elephant walked along a busy state road. An animal welfare association clarified the incident.
L'Aquila - Drivers and passengers of city buses in the city of more than 71,000 inhabitants in Abruzzo, east of Rome, Italy, rubbed their eyes as the Indian elephant trotted along the hard shoulder of the SS80. The colossus was led by a zookeeper.
The solution to the riddle: Not far from the road, a circus is currently making a guest appearance, for which the trainer of the elephant advertised on 9 May. The unusual road user was not accompanied by the police, nor were there any warnings to motorists.
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Monica Pilolli from the local chapter of the Italian animal welfare association LAV posted the picture horrified on Facebook: "A serious and regrettable incident that we have reported to the competent authorities," she wrote. The animal had posed a threat to public safety.
L'Aquila is currently hosting the circus "Madagascar-Maya-Orfei". During a guest performance in Genoa in April, a llama had already escaped the circus. The staff and police chased the animal through the streets of the port city. "Fortunately, there were no accidents in this case either," Pilolli continued.
The animal rights activist says after the elephant traffic in Abruzzo: "This incident shows once again shows that animal circuses should no longer have a place in our country." They seriously endangered the safety of animals and humans. In contrast to L'Aquila, many Italian municipalities have already adopted strict rules to make it as difficult as possible to house circuses with animals, to strengthen controls and therefore to discourage the accommodation of animals.
Italy: Earthquake almost destroyed "Salzburg of Abruzzo" in 2009
The city of L'Aquila, capital of the Italian region of Abruzzo, was severely damaged by an earthquake with a magnitude of 2009.6 in 3, as well as the entire region, and thus gained notoriety. 40 residents died, 15000 buildings were damaged. The reconstruction of the historic city centre of the commune, described by pianist Arthur Rubinstein L'Aquila as the "Salzburg of Abruzzo", is faltering.
Most recently, a landslide in South Tyrol and the spectacular turnaround in the case of Emanuela Orlandi made headlines in Italy.
