On Monday, a semitruck carrying five elephants, held captive by a European circus company, overturned along a highway in Spain. One animal was killed in the horrific accident, while four remaining survivors were left injured and disoriented as traffic backed up around them.
Photos of the aftermath, which shut down the road for more than an hour, spread quickly online — exexposing the dangers faced by animals trucked from place to place for people’s entertainment.
The surviving elephants remained calm as first responders arrived to the scene. Several were seen huddling close to one another for comfort.
Before the body of the deceased elephant could be carried away, two onlookers approached to express their grief that her life was lost.
“I don’t know these two people, but their actions right now deserve the greatest respect,” firefighters responding to the incident wrote on Twitter.
The four surviving elephants were taken to a nearby veterinary facility to undergo treatment for their injuries.
Their fate from there, sadly, remains uncertain.
Activists from Spain’s Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) are petitioning the government to grant a reprieve to the four remaining elephants to prevent their return to the circus that owns them — and calling for an end to the exploitation of animals like them.
“The life of a circus animal is hell. They live in deplorable conditions and no other party does anything for them. It is time to open our eyes to the cruelty of this sector,” Silvia Barquero, president of PACMA, said in a press release. “An accident on the highway is not the place where anyone wants to see an elephant. But the animals would not cross hoops of fire, walk on two legs or ride a bike, except for fear of reprisals that involves not doing so.”