Circus life isn't all it's been cracked up to be for an elephant named Mia. In early December, the pachyderm broke free from her restraints at the Amedeo Orfei Circus which had been offering performances in Rome for about a week, and took off on an adventure throughout the city. Some residents of the northern suburb where Mia escaped said they felt extreme panic when they heard that a wild animal was on the loose in their neighborhood, while others kept a lookout for the elephant simply out of curiosity.

Mia was able to enjoy a little more than two hours of freedom before Roman law enforcement officials received word of her location, just before she managed to enter a road connected to a Roman motorway. The owners of the circus were able to capture her without incident after she stopped at a roundabout and seemed confused as to which direction to take next. Mia is now back under the watchful eye of her handlers at the Amedeo Orfei Circus. Luckily for Mia as well as the owners of the circus, neither the elephant nor any bystanders were harmed during Mia's little adventure which added some excitement to Italy's holiday season.

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