(NewsNation/TMX) — Police and bystanders in Washington state on Sunday helped corral multiple zebras that escaped their trailer while being transported to Montana, officials said.
Washington State Patrol District 2 public information officer Trooper Rick Johnson shared on X, formerly Twitter, photos of four zebras on the loose on Interstate 90, near the North Bend exit in King County.
“This is a first for me and all @wastatepatrol troopers involved,” he wrote alongside the photos. He said the zebras got loose when the driver stopped alongside eastbound I-90 to secure their trailer.
“The community has come together to help,” he wrote. It took nearly two hours to wrangle three of the four zebras, including one baby, but one zebra was still on the loose somewhere Sunday night.
Several passersby stopped to help corral the animals, including a rodeo clown who happened to be passing through, resident Whitney Blomquist told KOMO.
“They had a rodeo clown who was on his way, I guess to a rodeo, and they were using him to help corral,” Blomquist told the outlet. “We got zebras on the loose, we’ve got a rodeo clown. I’m like, ‘Cool, we’ve officially turned into a zoo here.'”
King County Animal Control told KOMO the privately owned zebras are from Montana and were on their way back to the state. The agency is asking anyone who spots the fourth missing zebra to report sightings to local authorities.