Escaped elephant escorted home in New York state

Nov. 13 (UPI) -- An elephant that escaped from a New York state sanctuary was escorted back to her barn by police and a sanctuary employee.

Police said they received a call about 11:35 p.m. Sunday about an elephant wandering loose on a road in Westtown and New York State Police troopers arrived to find Fritha, a 44-year-old pachyderm, had escaped from Amanda Brook's sanctuary.

The elephant found a 3-ton pile of hay on another property and enjoyed a late-night feast before continuing down the road, police said.

Troopers said they were able to contact sanctuary employees, who were then able to coax Fritha back home under police escort.

"She has an electric fence that keeps her contained, and just human error, they forgot to flip her switch on and it makes a clicking noise and elephants are very, very smart and she knows that clicking noise wasn't on," sanctuary owner Amanda Brook told WABC-TV.

Police said Fritha was brought to the United States during the Vietnam War after the animal suffered burn wounds from napalm.