Russia probes circus over fight between ‘jealous’ elephants

MOSCOW: Russian investigators opened a probe on Monday into whether a circus allowed two elephants to perform while "in a state of aggression" after the animals came to blows during a show and landed among fleeing spectators.

Video footage showed one of the elephants, which were performing in a circus on Sunday in the city of Kazan more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of Moscow, pushing the other over and beginning to trample it as a panicked crowd rushed out of its seats. The Kazan circus said that "the audience had witnessed a quarrel between Indian elephants Jenny and Magda", adding that the crowd "was not in danger".