Back in 1990, residents living in the Liverpool village of Woolton were taken aback by an unusual sight - a three-ton elephant wandering the streets. What could've easily been mistaken as a hallucination brought about by one too many tipples the night before was in fact very real.
The elephant, called Maureen, left people utterly astonished as they peered out of their windows that day. The elephant had escaped from her handlers, setting the stage for an unforgettable episode.
This peculiar incident stemmed from an unusual fundraising scheme for Woolton's Marie Curie Hospice. Keith Dunn, the hospice's then fundraising manager, hatched a grand scheme aimed at giving the hospice some much-needed publicity, reports the Liverpool Echo.
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Hospice nurse, Anita Roberts, who bravely sat atop Maureen for pictures, spoke to the Echo in 2009 about the incident. She said: "The late Keith Dunn, who was our first fundraising manager, had some contacts with a circus.
"We wanted to get some good press and TV coverage and it worked!" Although the stunt happened as planned, Maureen had other ideas.
She gave her handler the slip and set out to explore more of Woolton. Anita said: "Little old women were coming up to us and saying 'I'm sure I've just seen an elephant!' But she didn't go berserk she just wanted to have a little wander!"
Maureen embarked on a rather unexpected jaunt around the village, taking the liberty of visiting various gardens and reportedly even giving chase to a police officer. Former paramedic Jeff Keig recounted the day Maureen broke free to liverpoolambulance.com, recalling his surprise encounter with the elephant while attending to a call.
Jeff recounted: "In 1990 when I was on PTS, I was taking an elderly lady home to High Street in Woolton. When we arrived at Woolton Village, there was a large police presence and a crowd of people, but we were unaware of the reason for this.
"I was unable to park in the High Street, so I parked by the Coach and Horses pub and proceeded to assist the patient to her home address. When we turned the corner, I looked up and saw a huge elephant in the gardens."
He added: "I said to my patient 'do you know that you have an elephant in your garden?', you can imagine her reaction. I managed to safely deliver the patient to her home address and when I was leaving her house, I saw a police superintendent running down the middle of the road, with the elephant chasing after him, it was a hysterical sight."
The elephant was eventually recaptured. She was lured back to the hospice with a trail of apples.
