Take a second to let that headline sink in…
It might warrant an audible gasp or a “clutching of pearls.”
A man’s pet zebra turned on him and nearly bit the owner’s entire arm off in Pickaway County, Ohio. News reports say these unbelievable events occurred this past Sunday.
According to incident reports from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the scene in the late afternoon to reports that a man had been badly injured in an incident between himself and his pet zebra.
Dispatch logs pulled from the report showed that individuals arriving to the scene approached the victim who was attacked and it appeared his arm was nearly bitten off.
Deputies were attempting to aid the victim as the irate zebra continued to charge and act aggressively towards humans in the vicinity. As the victim was loaded into the ambulance, the zebra’s hostility continued to worsen.
It became apparent that the zebra was endangering the first responders, despite efforts by the deputies (waving arms, yelling, blowing air horns) to scare it away.
Permission was given to put down the zebra if necessary, and a deputy was finally forced to put down the animal.
For those that may be like minded, I had no idea that zebras could be potentially dangerous.
However, apparently the aggressive nature of the black and white striped animals are more common than we thought. Joe Rogan discussed an example of zebras being violent in this clip from The Joe Rogan Podcast:
Who would’ve thought? Scary stuff.
A report is circulating on social media that the term “zebra neutralized” was used over dispatch, which sounds like a soundbite that would play during gameplay of a video game titled “Call of Duty: Madagascar.” Thankfully that is not an actual video game, but the idea does match the absurdity of this whole story.
It was sad they had to put down the zebra as it appears it was in the best interest of the safety and well being of others. The victim was taken to a local hospital and it has since been reported that doctors will be able to save the man’s mangled arm.
If there is a silver lining to the whole story, at least the Deputy has an interesting story to tell at the local watering hole. If he went to the bar the night of the crazy event, he probably said something to the effect of “make it a double Johnny, I had to shoot a zebra today.”
