>It may not be unusual to see a deer or a cow crossing Oklahoma's rural
>highways but one couple returning from church had an altogether bigger
>problem.

>Bill and Deena Carpenter came within inches of a head-on collision
>with an elephant which had escaped from a nearby circus late on
>Wednesday.

>Mr Carpenter, 68, said: "I didn't have time to hit the brakes. The
>elephant blended in with the road. At the very last second I said
>'elephant!'"

>His last-second swerve meant they sideswiped the 29-year-old female
>elephant in Enid, about 80 miles (129 kilometres) north of Oklahoma
>City.