A man was seriously injured and hospitalized after a zebra attacked him on Sunday afternoon in Circleville, Ohio.
The Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred in the 6900 block of Darby Road, and one deputy who arrived at the scene was told to go to a nearby field, WFAA reported.
The deputy eventually came upon a man laying on the ground whose arm had been bitten, and he tried to use his vehicle to protect the individual.
However, a male zebra charged the vehicle’s driver’s side, reportedly because it was protecting multiple female zebras in the area.
“The deputy said he was able to use his air horn and sirens to scare the zebra enough to exit the cruiser,” the WFAA report continued.
“I got attacked by a zebra,” Ronald Clifton told a dispatcher. When asked if the animal bit his arm, Clifton said, “Oh, hell yes! Come before he gets me again!”
When the deputy arrived, he put a tourniquet on the victim, then helped him into an ambulance. But it was not long before the zebra returned to the area.
The family told officials they were allowed to shoot the zebra if he came closer to them. Per body camera footage from the sheriff’s office, the zebra neared deputies again. When one of them fired a shotgun, it hit the animal in the head and killed it.
Video footage shows a man with a large stick, alongside law enforcement officers, trying to keep the zebra away from them:
Zebras are related to horses, and they are described as “large single-hoofed ungulates built for speed and long-distance migrations. Zebras typically stand about 120–140 cm (47–55 inches) at the shoulder,” the Britannica website read.
Following the attack, the victim was transported to a local hospital, but his condition was unknown.
“According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, zebras are not considered dangerous wild animals. They are allowed to be owned in Ohio but local governments may have restrictions,” per the WFAA report.