A peculiar rescue operation unfolded, featuring an unexpected participant: a rodeo clown, as recounted by a local.
Law enforcement officials and residents in Washington state joined forces on Sunday to address an unusual hazard on the roads: escaped zebras.
Despite successfully capturing three of the zebras after their breakout near North Bend, located on the eastern outskirts of Seattle, one remains at large.
Trooper Rick Johnson, the public information officer for Washington State Patrol District 2 in King County, reported that four zebras broke loose on Interstate 90 near the North Bend exit.
He shared images of the animals, with three still roaming free, before troopers and the community collaborated to secure their capture. “This is a first for me and all [State Patrol] troopers involved,” he noted on X. “Crazy!”
According to Johnson, the animals made their escape while their owner stopped to secure their trailer. These privately-owned zebras were en route to Montana.
Jon-Erick Anes, a regular at South Fork restaurant, informed KING of Seattle that he initially thought the zebras were part of an elaborate prank. “And then I saw some cars try and like get into the neighborhoods to fence them in,” he recalled. “They just started hanging out in the grass in somebody’s yard across the street.”
Alex Campo, an employee at the restaurant off I-90, along with other brunch patrons, witnessed the zebras running past and remarked to KING that Sunday would be remembered as “the day the zebras came into North Bend.”
A local who assisted in guiding one of the zebras into a yard shared a video on Facebook and humorously wrote: “I can now add zebra wrangler to my resume.”
Another video, posted on Instagram, depicted all four zebras halting traffic in North Bend as astonished drivers observed.
The King County Sheriff’s Office received the call at 12:52 p.m., and it wasn’t until 2:36 p.m. that three of the zebras were captured, as reported by ABC affiliate KOMO of Seattle.
WSP highlighted the community’s collaboration in containing the loose animals.
As recounted by local Whitney Blomquist to KOMO, the unconventional rescue effort involved the fortuitous presence of a passing rodeo clown. “They had a rodeo clown who was on his way, I guess to a rodeo, and they were using him to help corral,” Blomquist explained. “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 has urged anyone who spots the missing zebra to report its whereabouts.