News4’s Pat Collins goes on the search for the missing zebras still on the loose in Maryland. Here’s how animal control is trying to catch them.
Animal control is trying to catch a handful of zebras that are still on the loose after they escaped from a farm in Prince George's County about two weeks ago.
Initially, animal control put up a feeding station to coax the zebras back to the private farm where they live in Croom, Maryland.
But upon that failing, animal control has now erected an 8-foot tall corral in the area where the zebras have been grazing in Upper Marlboro.
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Zebras are not an easy catch.
"They are animals that you just can't walk up and put a lasso on," Chief Rodney Taylor from Prince George’s Animal Control said. "They're going to run away from you."
The zebras are owned by Jerry Holly, a wealthy breeder and trader of exotic animals, who has a history of keeping unusual pets.
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Officials say Holly brought 39 zebras to the farm in Croom last month.
While they have been on the run, the zebras have become an internet phenomenon inspiring memes and shocking everyone who comes across them.
"I called 311 and she thought I was crazy, she thought I was crazy. She paused for a long minute. I said, 'Ma’am, I am not drinking. I have not had any drugs. I have zebras in my backyard walking on the train tracks," Alexis Reed Curling, an Upper Marlboro resident, said.
Government officials have also weighed in.
Congresswoman Eleanor Norton (D-DC) denied responsibility for letting the zebras on the loose.
“My alibi is solid," Norton said in a press release.
Norton didn't dish on exactly who allegedly accused her of letting the zebras loose, but she "supports freedom generally," her office pointed out.
