Elephant Puts on Show for San Diego Freeway Drivers

A baby elephant used in the motion picture industry made his debut Saturday morning on the San Diego Freeway when the trailer carrying the pachyderm broke an axle, authorities said.

Neely, an African elephant who stands 9 feet tall and weighs 1,000 pounds, was removed from the trailer about 9 a.m. on the freeway near the Burbank Avenue exit, said Sgt. Jim Bower of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys station.

The elephant was led by his trainer to nearby Woodley Avenue Park in Van Nuys, where he munched on tree leaves and “communed with nature” while waiting for a replacement trailer to arrive, Bower said. A motorist with a car phone called California Highway Patrol officers, who turned the incident over to the police.

Bower, the day-shift supervisor at the Van Nuys station, took a personal interest in the incident and traveled to the scene. “I’ve seen a lot of things before,” he said, “but this is my first elephant call.”