Ohio: Man hospitalized after pet zebra attacked him
A man in Ohio was hospitalized Sunday after being mauled by his pet zebra.
Emergency responders in Circleville, Ohio, were startled to receive a panicked call from a local resident claiming he had been attacked by a zebra.
Deputies with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office were forced to shoot the rampaging horse after responding to the scene at a family farm around 5:30 p.m. Sunday night.
They arrived at the scene and found one victim bleeding profusely from his arm. After temporarily scaring the zebra away with an air horn, first responders were able to apply a tourniquet and transport the man to an ambulance.
Throughout the rescue, the zebra continued to behave aggressively and threatened the deputies’ cruisers. The victim, identified as the animal’s owner, gave law enforcement permission to euthanize the animal if necessary.
Body camera footage released Tuesday by the Sheriff’s Office shows a man successfully chasing the zebra away from the deputies with a large stick. But shortly after he leaves, the horse approaches the two deputies, shotguns at the ready.
The animal was killed by a single shot to the head.
“The zebra would not slow down and kept coming at me,” the lawmaker wrote in an incident report.
The victim was later identified by the Columbus Dispatch as 72-year-old farmer Ronald Clifton. He was transported to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center and is expected to keep his arm.
Clifton, who owns the property south of Columbus, has also owned a herd of zebras in the area for years. Clifton told MPs the attacker was the only male in the herd and the only one to show aggressive tendencies.
The sheriff’s office said the zebra may have been trying to protect the herd of females from alleged attackers.
Zebras are not considered exotic animals in Ohio and are therefore exempt from the state ban on ownership.
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https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/14/ohio-man-hospitalized-after-pet-zebra-attacks-him-18441275/ Ohio: Man hospitalized after pet zebra attacked him