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Giraffe gathers troops, leads great escape from circus

  • Story Highlights
  • The giraffe kicked open a fence and walked out, taking other animals with him
  • The animals were part of a traveling circus that had set up in Amstelveen
  • Officers and circus employees rounded them up before they could get too far
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By Saeed Ahmed
CNN
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(CNN) -- Fifteen camels, several llamas and a potbellied pig broke out of a circus near Amsterdam on Monday. The ringleader? A giraffe who bolted, too.

Police said the giraffe kicked open a fence and walked out.

"The other animals walked out with him," said Amsterdam police spokesman Rob Van Der Veen.

The animals were part of a traveling circus that had set up its tents in the city of Amstelveen, six miles outside the Dutch capital.

They made their break about 5:45 a.m., wandering about a residential street and riling up a neighborhood dog, police said.

Officers and circus employees rounded them up before they could get too far and returned them to their pens.

"It must have been a funny sight," Van Der Veen said. "Waking up in the morning and looking out the window to see those animals walk through the streets."

All About Amsterdam

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