 "Photo: N/A")
Bill Carpenter is used to dodging deer on Oklahoma highways but was more than surprised when a 4,500-pound elephant collided with his car.
“It happened in 2 to 3 seconds,” Carpenter, 68, said. “I had my low beams on and the elephant was the same color as the highway.”
Carpenter said he swerved his SUV at the last second, sideswiping the 8-foot female Asian elephant. He was driving at about 55 mph early Wednesday evening on U.S. 81 in Enid. He and his wife were headed home from church.
“As God as my witness, if I would have not turned real fast and real sharp, I would have knocked its legs right underneath it,” Carpenter said. “It would have been a 55-mile per hour flop over on the top (of the hood) — we would have died last night.”
The Enid couple wasn’t injured but their SUV was totaled. The elephant was taken to the Olson Animal Hospital in Enid for a broken tusk and leg wound. The elephant was taken to the OSU veterinary school Thursday for further treatment.
The veterinary school declined to comment because it “should not release information unless required by law or it’s necessary to protect the health and welfare of other individuals or animals, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics.
Enid veterinarian Dr. Dwight Olson said his practice examined the elephant after its owner and handlers calmed the elephant. He said it ran into the trees and bushes on the side of the highway after the collision.
He said it was “pretty shook up.”
Although it had minimal injuries, Olson said its chipped tusk won’t grow back as easily as its leg wound will heal. He said it won’t look the same again.
Its current status is unknown. Olson said it was transferred to the OSU veterinary school because it wouldn’t fit in his X-ray room.
“It wouldn’t fit for one thing, and you know, OSU are the experts and give the best care in the state,” he said. “So I knew they could take very good care of it.”
Olson said the elephant escaped from the Family Fun Circus Wednesday at the Garfield County Fairgrounds when something spooked it while caretakers were loading it and another elephant into a truck.
After the Carpenters hit the elephant, they quickly flagged down another vehicle to call the Enid Police Department. The couple didn’t have their cell phone with them.
Carpenter said the dispatchers didn’t believe them.
“ ‘Yeah, uh huh, tell us another’ was their response,” Carpenter said.
Deena Carpenter, 68, said she couldn’t believe it either.
“I felt like popcorn in a popcorn maker,” she said. “The car was swinging me everywhere. We didn’t even realize there was a circus in town so that just really blew our minds that there was an elephant coming down the road.
“We just thank the Lord we’re alive. God just had his angels camped around us.”
Be the first to comment on this article!