Rodeo bullfighter wrangles three zebras on the loose in Washington

Release time：2024-05-01 12:20:16 Source：World Watch news portal

A former rodeo bullfighter helped state patrollers capture four zebras roaming a Washington neighborhood after they bolted from a trailer.

Kristine Keltgen, the zebra owner, said she'd picked them up from a private home in Winlock, WA, to take them to the petting zoo she runs with her son in Montana.

She pulled over her trailer to fix one of the floor mats but failed to secure the zebras during the quick stop.

As soon as she went to go fix the mat, the zebras saw an opportunity to escape and began trotting through traffic onto residential streets.

Luckily, there was a former rodeo bullfighter just around the corner to help lure the animals back to where they belong.

A former rodeo bullfighter helped state patrollers capture four zebras roaming a Washington neighborhood after they bolted from a trailer

The wild animals saw their exit strategy and took it. They were soon seen trotting around town, including on local highways

This is a first for me and all @wastatepatrol troopers involved. 4 Zebras that were being transported got loose when the driver stopped to secure the trailer EB 90 to exit 32. The community has come together to help. One cornered, 3 outstanding. Crazy!! pic.twitter.com/8lF75tnbyZ

— Trooper Rick Johnson (@wspd2pio) April 28, 2024

David Danton, who says he worked for 15 years as a bullfighter and rodeo clown, dropped in to assist Keltgen.

In an interview with CBS, Danton said: 'Not every day you get that phone call. We're cowboys and we help people... and found ourselves in a zebra roundup.

He told the New York Times: 'Nobody trains you for wrangling zebras,' - but that didn't prove to be too much of an issue, utilizing rope, a garden hose, and metal panels to build makeshift gates.

Danton wrangled two of the four animals into an enclosed space on a nearby horse farm and then into a large trailer.

'It worked out as well as it possibly could have,' he said of his efforts. 

Four zebras got loose in Washington state , where it took the efforts of state patrollers and a former rodeo bullfighter to recapture several of them

Of Monday night, one of the four zebras remains missing in action

Local residents were informed of the escaped animals by Washington State Patrol public information officer Rick Johnson, who posted an alarming video of the striped bandits to X.

'This is a first for me and all @wastatepatrol troopers involved. Four zebras that were being transported got loose when the driver stopped to secure the trailer EB 90 to exit 32,' he wrote.

'The community has come together to help. One cornered, three outstanding. Crazy!!'

By the end of Sunday, three of the four runners had been returned, though one remained elusive, and was still missing as of Monday night.

Danton warned that if anyone spots a zebra, don't approach it.

'As soon as you do it's going to run off and get lost again,' he said.

'So if it's in your backyard,' - one of the zebras was, in fact, found in a local woman's backyard - 'let it eat, let it rest, and let somebody know right away.' 

Danton warned residents not to approach the zebras if they made it to their yards, but to let them graze and rest 

Whitney Blomquist first saw the zebras on her security camera before rushing to her front porch for a better look.

'They looked right at me and walked right toward me. You’d think you’d have to go to an African safari to be with zebras and here I am standing on my front porch, and they’re 10 feet away from me. It was just insane,' she told the Times.

Keltgen said that because of the community of helpful zebra searchers, what could have been a bad experience turned into a 'very positive' one.

'We just have to get our last zebra back and we will be all better.' 

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