The camels escape was poorly timed with rush-hour traffic, getting out around 6pm. 

According to police, a few of the camels and dromedaries made it as far as 800 metres from the square where the circus had set up in Schweinfurt, which lies between Frankfurt and Nuremberg.  

Others took to the streets, causing traffic jams on the John-F.-Kennedy-Ring.

A 70-year-old motorist was not able to brake in time and hit one camel. Police reported slight damage to the car, while the camel’s leg was injured.

It took circus workers and fire fighters half an hour to round up the fugitive animals. One had made it almost a kilometre before getting caught in a supermarket parking lot.

The circus isn’t sure how eight of its animals escaped. Police are currently looking for signs of manipulation in the fence surrounding the temporary complex.