Pet zebra on the run in Tennessee after escaping and “wreaking havoc” on highway

A pet zebra has been on the run for days in Tennessee after “wreaking havoc” on a highway outside of Nashville, officials say. 

“Several professional tracking groups are involved in the search and a K9 search is scheduled Tuesday,” the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in an update Monday on social media. 

The zebra escaped into a wooded area off Interstate 24 on Saturday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said. The animal had been running through traffic on both sides of the highway, forcing a temporary closure.

The zebra’s owner, Taylor Ford of Christiana, Tennessee, told CBS News in a statement Thursday evening that the zebra “is alive and has been spotted again within the last hour and we have him in a nice area where we can eventually capture him.”

The sheriff’s office was in contact with the Ford family, who had said they obtained the animal on Friday night. It was not immediately clear how the zebra was obtained or how it got away from the owner.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude to the community for the overwhelming support in the search for our zebra,” Taylor and Laura Ford said in a statement Thursday. “Daily, we are flooded with volunteers and friends offering to step up and help — and the energy, love, and determination from across Tennessee and beyond have been truly humbling.”

Anyone who sees the zebra is asked to contact the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

This isn’t the first unexpected animal to shut down an interstate recently. A runaway kangaroo named Sheila was caught after causing a crash in Alabama in April. 

Nicole Valdes

contributed to this report.