NORTHBEND, Wash. — It was an unusual wildlife sighting when four zebras escaped their trailer and galloped into a Washington neighborhood.
Three of the four black-and-white striped animals were quickly captured, but the fate of the fourth was not immediately known Monday, Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson said.
The zebras were being transported from Washington to Montana when the driver took the Interstate 90 exit for North Bend, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Seattle, to secure the trailer.
At that moment the zebras took off.
Witness Dan Barnett of North Bent told KING-TV from Seattle that he was in “disbelief” when he saw the zebras eating grass along the side of the exit ramp.
He and other drivers helped protect the zebras from the busy nearby highway, while drivers stopped on the off-ramp to “create a makeshift fence” to block the animals from the highway, Barnett said.
The zebras then headed toward town, trotting past brunch patrons at a restaurant near the highway exit. Shortly afterwards, three of the AWOL zebras were in Whitney Blomquist’s backyard.
“I called someone and said, ‘So I found the missing zebras, they’re in my yard. Yeah, I don’t know what to do,’” Blomquist said.
The zebras then ran to a neighboring yard, where two were captured with the help of rodeo professionals. The third, the baby of the herd, was later rounded up.
Johnson posted photos of the loose zebras on the social platform X. “This is a first for me and all @wastatepatrol troopers involved,” he wrote. “Crazy!”
