Why is there an elephant casually chilling on a Florida beach?

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Why is there an elephant casually chilling on a Florida beach?
(Image credit: YouTube)

Swimmers at a beach near Tampa Bay spotted something slightly unusual on Saturday: an elephant casually bathing in the shallow waters. Since they weren't hallucinating, beach-goers were left wondering how the pachyderm got there.

Apparently, the city approved a person's request to have a trained elephant present at a birthday party back in February. How the giant mammal got away, however, is another mystery.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.