A herd of zebras is on the run in Maryland after escaping from a farm near Upper Marlboro last month.
The owner of a private farm near Ballefield has been trying to lure them back with grains but has been unsuccessful in his efforts failure so far, animal service officials in Prince George's County said, as they warned people the animals could be dangerous if cornered.
It is not immediately clear how the zebras escaped from the farm on 31 August, but they have repeatedly been sighted grazing on meadows and in people’s gardens since. The animal service department said it had received multiple calls from alarmed residents reporting zebra sightings.
The zebras have reportedly separated themselves into groups of three and two. Although the mammals look harmless, they can turn dangerous if approached by humans, the officials warned.
“They won’t attack you. Please do not try to corner them, try to catch them. They’re not used to being handled by humans, so they will kick. Zebras do bite. So please, if you happen to see them, just give us a call and let us know, but just stay away," Rodney Taylor, the chief of the animals service division told NBC 15.
Catching the zebras can be a difficult task and to make the process easier, officials have to first secure their trust with a feeding station. "If you build a corral area all at once, they are very sensitive and won't come there to eat, so you have to put a few panels at a time," Mr Taylor told the Washington Post.
The officials plan to create a confined area near the feeding station where the animals will be tranquillised and then taken back to their owner's farm.
People in the state are allowed to keep zebras under permits from the US Agricultural Department and the far owner has 39 zebras with proper documentation. The farm has had other wild animals such as red kangaroos, brown lemurs, spider monkeys, dromedaries, mandrills, capybaras and gibbons, according to 2018 department records.
