Zebras get loose near highway exit, gallop into Washington community before most are corralled

NORTH BEND, Wash. — It was an unusual wildlife sighting Sunday when four zebras escaped from their trailer and galloped into a Washington neighborhood.

Three of the four black-and-white striped animals were quickly captured, but the fate of the fourth wasn’t immediately known Monday, Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson said.

The zebras were being transported from Washington to Montana when the driver took the Interstate 90 exit for North Bend, located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Seattle, to secure the trailer.

That’s when the the zebras bolted.

Witness Dan Barnett of North Bent told KING-TV of Seattle that he was in “disbelief,” when he saw the zebras eating grass off the side of the offramp.

He and other drivers helped protect the zebras from the busy nearby interstate, as drivers on the offramp pulled over to “make a makeshift fence” to block the animals from the highway, Barnett said.

The zebras then began heading toward town, trotting past brunch patrons at a restaurant near the interstate exit. Soon after, three of the AWOL zebras were in Whitney Blomquist’s backyard.

"I called someone and was like, ‘So I found the missing zebras, they’re in my yard. Yeah – not sure what to do,’” Blomquist said.

The zebras then ran to a neighboring yard, where two were captured with the help of rodeo professionals. The third, the baby of the herd, was corralled later.

Johnson posted photos of the loose zebras on the social platform X. “This is a first for me and all @wastatepatrol troopers involved,” he wrote. “Crazy!”