Residents in a town north of Toronto thought they might have been dreaming when they noticed two elephants wandering through their neighbourhood early Thursday morning.

The massive pachyderms, named Bunny and Suzy, had escaped from a circus at about 3 a.m. in Newmarket, a town of 75,000 people located 45 kilometres of Toronto.

The animals, performing at the Ray Twinney Complex with the Garden Bros. Circus, strolled the streets near Yonge Street and Davis Drive, munching on trees, shrubs and flowers.

Two residents who were still up made the sighting, and after a few moments called police.

"We found an elephant walking down the street. Like the ones from the circus at the Ray Twinney centre. One of them got loose and was walking down the street," a male caller told the 911 dispatcher.

After phoning 911, the male caller's friend began to lead one of the trained elephants away by walking in front of it and gesturing.

"They were a little surprised ... they didn't really know what to do," York Region police Const. Marina Orlovski told CTV.ca. "But they were pretty calm."

Circus trainers and police were quick to arrive at the scene and round up the fugitives. The duo was then placed back in their electronic cages at the circus.

Aside from the chewed vegetation, no property was damaged and no one was hurt.

Orlovski said the force occasionally receives reports of wandering bears and other wildlife, but this call was a surprise.

"This one's a little odd. We don't really have elephants walking around," she said.

Police said the electronic fence surrounding the elephants' pen was inadvertently disabled for a short time, allowing Bunny and Suzy to walk out.

With a report from CTV's Chris Eby