The owner of the legendary Maryland zebras that ran wild through Prince George's County in 2021 was found not guilty of three animal cruelty charges Wednesday.
The zebras were reported to have escaped on Aug. 31, 2021, and first were spotted in the wild in early September, roaming neighborhoods in Upper Marlboro.
Chopper4 captured footage of the zebras in a field, shortly after Maryland residents reported zebra sightings around the county.
“I called 311 and she thought I was crazy; she thought I was crazy," Maryland resident Alexis Reed Curling told News4 at the time. "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. I just wanted to know what service could come out because I didn’t want them to get hit, and she paused for a long time and then said, 'OK, here's the number.'"
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The zebras' owner, Jerry Lee Holly, is a breeder and trader of exotic animals.
Animal control said the zebras were legally owned and escaped from his farm, likely due to a broken gate.
County prosecutors said animal services told Holly that some of his zebras had escaped on Aug. 26, 2021, but at the time, he said that "he had no plan to recapture the zebras at the time."
After the Maryland Department of Natural Resources found one of the three escaped zebras dead in an illegal snare trap, Holly was charged with three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police responded to a report of a dead animal and found the zebra. The zebra’s body was found on private property not far from the initial sighting, but the person who set the trap remains a mystery.
"...The failure to provide for the 3 at-large zebras, combined with the description of the death of the at-large zebra above, is sufficient circumstantial evidence of neglect to warrant criminal charge," court documents said in October 2021.
The other two escaped zebras were found and reunited with their herd in December 2021. Holly owned a total of 39 zebras at the time of the escape.
On Wednesday, a judge dismissed the case against Holly when state prosecutors failed to meet a burden of proof.
