Indian elephant goes on rampage in Russia

A 39-year-old Indian elephant at Yaroslavl, near Moscow, went on a rampage after being fed with a bucketful of warm vodka-based toddy as the mercury plunged to below minus 30 degree Celsius in Russia, a media report said on Sunday.

According to the report, minutes after the elephant, Indra, a star of a circus group, drained the bucket to the last fortifying drop of the drink, it was on the rampage.

With alcohol coursing through its veins, it ran wildly round its enclosure, smashing hot water radiators and tearing them from the wall. Indra was subdued only after it was given a hot shower along with two other elephants, the report in the Sunday Telegraph said.

The report said the sight of the Indian elephant enjoying a good slug of vodka might have drawn appreciative chuckles from Russian television viewers, many of whom were themselves probably shivering at the time.

Instead they saw pictures of the animal leaning drunkenly against the wall to which it had been chained to restrain it.

It was one of the more unexpected consequences of the exceptionally cold weather which has gripped Russia for the past few days and is heading for western Europe this week.

It was not unusual for the performing elephants of Taisiya Kornilova's traveling circus to be given a tot of vodka, especially when they were on the road, said Andrei Kornilov, their trainer.

First Published: Jan 22, 2006 15:44 IST