Spectators were forced to flee the area in Russia when two elephants came to blows in chaotic scenes at a circus.
Elephant trainers tried desperately to separate the brawling giants after an Indian female named Jenny butted another named Magda and knocked her to the ground.
She then tried to trample her floored rival at the edge of the ring, prompting the audience to abandon their seats and pour out of the circus in Kazan.
A circus impresario suggested that the duel might have been caused by jealousy over the trainer’s attention, after one voice in the ring-side footage was heard saying: ‘The elephants went crazy’.
The audience of children and their parents fled seats, especially in the front rows of a £10 million circus complex, with many pouring out of the arena.
The battle occurred at the the £10million Kazan State Circus venue in a show called ‘The Show of Elephants and the Magic of the Circus’.
Circus director Ramil Sharifullin told Realnoe Vremya that ‘no-one was hurt’ as a result of the incident, while staff denied that spectators had been in danger.
But one parent with a young girl said: ‘There was panic. It was close to us.
‘We rushed to get out. So did everyone else especially in the front rows of the audience.’
Another – near the back of the permanent big top – said: ‘It’s good we are sitting so far away.’
The animals were not harmed in the brawl, said a spokesman.
The two Indian female elephants – both longstanding circus performers – had previously got into a ‘conflict’ five years ago, said Sharifullin.
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