[kellyhound]

Italy, A giraffe has escaped from an Italian circus in the northern town of Imola, spending several hours on the run.

The five-metre high animal, weighing almost 900kg (2,000lb), caused damage to some vehicles along the roads by catching them with its hooves.

It shocked residents as it made its way down the town's main street.

Eventually, after four hours, it was shot with a tranquiliser by police. It died shortly afterwards, apparently of a cardiac arrest.

The animal, part of the Rinaldo Orfei circus, was on the run for around four hours and video footage showed it moving at speed across a forecourt as people looked on, amazed.

At one point the giraffe was pictured in a full gallop, with a police squad car in pursuit.

Another image, however, shows the giraffe examining some flowers as an elderly lady tends her garden, completely unaware of the giraffe's presence metres above her head.

[güttsfükk]

heart attack cause it wasnt used to running around anymore?

[Sharon]

Some cracking photos there Poor giraffe!

[gatagato]

Sad story, the major of Imola decided to kick the circus out within 2 days. Many other majors in Italy may decide to ban the circus with animals from their cities.

P.S.:
THAT must be the ugliest italian police woman i've ever seen in my life, usually they are hot or at least passable, but hey! That's a disgrace, something must have gone very wrong during pregnancy, Jesus Christ!

THESE are legit ITA policewomen:


If the autopsy will estabilish that the poor giraffe died of heart attack right after such sight, everything would make a lot more sense, in this extremely sad story

[foldingstars]

Those are some amazing photos.love the one where he is popping his head round the corner.

That is probably the most freedom the poor thing has ever had.

[Faline]

[wujuan]

poor baby. animal circuses are evil.

[gatagato]

Originally Posted by wujuan ↗

poor baby. animal circuses are evil.

They simply should NOT be allowed to exist, i hope this will change things forever at least in Italy (it's a major news here right now). In sardinia, circuses are already having HARD TIMES, we have already expressed our disagreement the most convincing way (i won't share too many details, but we are VERY convincing, when needed).
Btw, one month ago my nephew asked me to go take him to the circus, and i refused to. He just wanted to see tigers, elephants, giraffes and so on. Nothing wrong with it, but i didn't want him to see some TORTURED tigers, elephants, giraffes and so on. I promised him that i'll show him the tigers in India in their natural habitat, one day, and i'll keep my word, i swear. He was mad at me, but when he'll grow, he'll understand the why. Flashing lights, noises, hand claps, people all over, which is a scenario that has nothing to do with their natural environment, is just the tip of the iceberg. What's worse is the way they are trained: take a look at this training session of a little elephant, and think that it's just a baby, more here (and that is just an example, i hate animal cruelty so much that i don't want to google for it).
God made the cat in order that humankind might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger, but that's wasn't enough. It seems that we MUST close, beat, electric-shok, tie them, just for the sake of the show and for the money coming from the ticket. Look: I believe in extraterrestrial intelligent life forms: many wonder why UFOs are so difficult to be caught on camera: my humble possible explanation is simple: they take a quick look to our planet and flee away @ extremely hight speed, DISGUSTED after seeing what we are doing to our planet: not even Einstein would disagree:

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

We are the only ones who torture living beings for money and/or sadism, we kill for jealousy, envy, money (again), fun, some human females trash their newborns despite laws would protect their identities: so, who actually would deserve to be electric-shocked in order to learn the lesson, us or them?

[dcaccount22]

Not all animals in human captivity are suffering, and if you think the wild is better, you are ignoring all of the videos of torture and death that exist of creatures existing as nature decrees. From birth wild animals live in pain, fear, thirst, hunger, and often die young, eaten alive or killed by rivals just after their primes. Humans like to say "wild is better, because cages etc are cruel" but ignore evidence that suggests that because most animals are not as intelligent as humans, captivity is not nearly as objectionable. It is easy to find examples of cruelty towards animals in human care, the media and animal advocates like to propagate such an image perhaps because it is easier to prevent people from owing wild animals than it is to make sure they take proper care of them, however studies and animal experts can be found to agree that given proper exercise, care and intellectual enrichment animals in captivity who are given a job such as performing tricks are extremely happy and live much longer than those in the wild. I do not object to circuses, zoos, animal parks etc so long as the animals are given compassionate care. In most cases they are, the good places just arnt the ones receiving the attention and gathering outrage. Check dates and sources on circus cruelty videos etc before using them to formulate your opinion on what to support and what not to. Chances are if you take little Jr. on an african safari there is a good chance hell get to see animals eating one another alive, killing each other slowly in power struggles, or dying of starvation or disease.

[Dynamo47]

Originally Posted by foldingstars ↗

Those are some amazing photos.love the one where he is popping his head round the corner.

That is probably the most freedom the poor thing has ever had.

That was my fav as well. Can you imagine if that woman had sensed someone watching here and saw that? She would have had a heart attack!