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A man is attacked by a zebra on his farm and seriously injured
Bodycam footage shows emergency services taking the injured owner to an ambulance after the zebra attack
© Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office / AFP
In the US state of Ohio, a farmer was attacked by one of his animals and seriously injured. The animal was a male zebra. This was apparently so aggressive that the alarmed authorities saw only one way out: to kill it.
A 72-year-old man was seriously injured in a zebra attack in the United States. As several US media reports, the incident happened on Sunday afternoon on a farm in Circleville, Ohio.
As the Chief of the Pickaway County Police Department, Matthew O. Hafey, explained in an interview with the TV network NBC, when the call came in (“I was attacked by a zebra”), it was immediately clear who it was. “We only have one person here in the community who owns zebras, to my knowledge.”
When emergency services arrived at the man’s farm, they found him lying on the ground in a fenced-off field, badly injured. The male zebra had bitten his arm.
USA: Zebra shot dead in Ohio after attacking owner
The officer was initially able to drive the animal away with the help of the car’s horn and its siren and administer first aid to the injured victim. But the zebra returned and threatened the police officers, the paramedics who had arrived and the family of the injured owner. Finally, the animal was shot in consultation with the owner before more people could be injured. According to the police, the animal may have wanted to protect several zebra mares that were on the premises.
Bodycam footage shows the dead zebra lying on the field
© Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office / AFP
The zebra’s owner was taken to a hospital. The severity of his injury was initially unclear. A police officer wrote in his report that the zebra had “bitten off the man’s arm”. When asked, the police said the arm was probably just broken. The hospital in Ohio’s capital, Columbus, to which the 72-year-old was taken, said on Tuesday that the patient was “fine” and would recover.
In Ohio, zebras are not classified as dangerous wildlife. Their possession is therefore legal.
Watch the video: Sarosh Lodhi, a wildlife photographer from India, remarks that a snapshot of two zebras creates a perfect optical illusion. He asks which of the two zebras is in front? Since then, users have been puzzling over the correct answer.
Sources: Associated Press, NBC Newswith material from AFP