Elephants run amok

SEOUL (Reuters) - Six elephants escaped from a zoo and roamed around the South Korean capital Wednesday, briefly crashing their way into a restaurant before being rounded up, police and zoo officials said.

The elephants were on a parade led by mahouts outside their enclosure inside Seoul Children's Grand Park in the east of the city when one was apparently startled and bolted, a zoo official said by telephone.

The five others followed "because they have the tendency to do that," the official said.

While the elephants were being led back to the zoo, three of them escaped again and crashed through a plate-glass window into a restaurant, sending terrified staff fleeing.

Crowds looked on as mahouts in blue hats ran after the elephants.

Amid the confusion, a man was also injured and needed hospital treatment after encountering another elephant on a side-street.

Firefighters and zoo keepers, helped by police, cajoled five of the elephants back into the zoo. A police officer said a sixth was at a police station and would be sent back to the zoo soon.

My comment: where were they keeping the elephant at the police station? How did it get there? Was it in a cell? Did it receive due process? So many questions...