Zebra captured after escape, romp through streets of Seoul

Sero, the 3-year-old zebra who escaped from the Seoul Children’s Grand Park zoo this week, had a rebellious streak that was already evident before he was filmed trotting through the city in viral videos, startling passersby and drivers.

The young male equine, born in captivity in 2019, had a change of behavior after the deaths of both his parents, zoo officials said.

After his parents died, Sero started refusing to eat the apples and carrots that he once loved. He also began quarreling with the kangaroos living in the next enclosure, the officials said in a video.

Sero escaped from his enclosure Thursday afternoon, breaking through the wooden fences surrounding his pen.

After his escape, Sero walked around the busy streets of Seoul, a densely populated city of about 10 million, to the shock of witnesses. One shopkeeper in Seoul said it had felt as if he was watching a wildlife documentary, Yonhap reported.

Right before his capture, Sero was trotting back and forth on a narrow street lined with multifamily brick homes, according to video footage.

Sero was first reported missing by the zoo about 2:43 p.m. local time. Firefighters located him about three-quarters of a mile from his enclosure, according to the Gwangjin Fire Station. He was found near a bicycle that firefighters suspect he had broken.

Firefighters then blocked the entrances leading into the alleyway so Sero would not return to the busy streets of Seoul.

Sero was sedated and captured three hours later, about 6 p.m., firefighters said.