Animals even worse in real life than as political symbols

Today we've got two animal-related problems that even I never thought to be afraid of:

Elephant escapes circus and rams family home

A family in Värnamo in southern Sweden awoke on Sunday morning to find an Indian elephants wandering about in their garden after having escaped from a circus which had set up camp in the vicinity.

The Enoksson family caught the whole elephantine drama on film and could be heard becoming increasingly anxious as the animal approached and collided with their house.

"We became very frightened and then we heard a crash in the wall of the house," said Sofia Enoksson to the Aftonbladet daily, which has broadcast the film.

The elephants had apparently evaded the attention of their handlers at a circus which had made its base near the residential neighbourhood in the small Swedish town.

The elephants eventually lumbered off across a field and the family called the police who in turn called the circus to enquire as to what was being done to deal with the matter.

"One hopes that they have a carer who can entice them with some carrots," said Göran Gunnarsson at Jönköping police to Aftonbladet.

The circus is reported as having claimed to have been in control of the elephants.

Killer donkeys maul senior citizen to death on Hungarian farm 

Authorities originally thought that Sandor Horvath had been ripped apart by wolves — the autopsy proved otherwise.

Sandor Horvath was bitten and trampled on by the deadly duo as he was visiting a farm in Magyarszecsod, Hungary, last week.

Police say the retired firefighter was chased and pulled off his mobility scooter by the beasts.

They then dragged him along the ground for more than 50 yards.

The donkeys reportedly received the death penalty for their crime, but that's no reason to let down your guard.