A former rodeo bullfighter helped state patrol troopers capture four zebras roaming a Washington neighborhood after they escaped from a trailer.
Kristine Keltgen, the zebras’ owner, said she picked them up from a private home in Winlock, Wash., to take them to the petting zoo she runs with her son in Montana.
She stopped her trailer to repair one of the floor mats, but failed to secure the zebras during the quick stop.
As soon as she went to fix the carpet, the zebras saw an opportunity to escape and began trotting into traffic on residential streets.
Luckily, there was a former rodeo bullfighter just around the corner to help return the animals to their place.
A former rodeo bullfighter helped state patrol troopers capture four zebras roaming a Washington neighborhood after they escaped from a trailer.
The wild animals understood their exit strategy and adopted it. They were soon seen trotting around the city, including on local highways.
David Danton, who said he worked for 15 years as a bullfighter and rodeo clown, came to help Keltgen.
In an interview with CBS, Danton said, “You don’t get that phone call every day. We’re cowboys and we help people…and we found ourselves in a zebra roundup.
He say it New York Times: “Nobody Trains You to Fight Zebras” – but that didn’t prove too much of a problem, using rope, a garden hose and metal panels to construct makeshift gates.
Danton took two of the four animals to an enclosed space at a nearby horse farm, then to a large trailer.
“It worked as well as it could,” he said of his efforts.
Local residents were informed of the escaped animals by Rick Johnson, public information officer for the Washington State Patrol, who posted an alarming video of the striped bandits on 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 attach the EB 90 trailer at exit 32,” he wrote.
“The community came together to help. One cornered, three exceptional. Mad!!’
Four zebras escaped into Washington state, where it took the efforts of state patrol officers and a former rodeo bullfighter to capture several of them.
As of Monday evening, one of four zebras remains missing
By late Sunday, three of the four riders had been returned, but one remained elusive and was still missing Monday evening.
Danton warned that if anyone sees a zebra, don’t approach it.
“As soon as you do, he’s going to run away and get lost again,” he said.
“So if it’s in your garden,” – one of the zebras was actually found in a local woman’s garden – “let it eat, let it rest and notify it immediately.”
David Danton, a longtime cowboy and rodeo performer, helped pack two of the zebras into a makeshift enclosure at a local horse farm.
Danton warned residents not to approach the zebras if they came into their yards, but to let them graze and rest.
Whitney Blomquist first saw the zebras on her security camera before rushing to her porch to get a better look.
“They looked at me and walked towards me. You’d think you’d have to go to an African safari to be with zebras and here I am standing on my porch, and they’re 10 feet away from me. It was just crazy,” she told the Times.
Keltgen said that thanks to the community of helpful zebra researchers, what could have been a bad experience turned into a “very positive” one.
“We just need to get our last zebra back and everything will be better.”
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