Escaped zebra captured by rodeo clown with bread
An escaped zebra who was on the run for six days has finally been captured with the help of a rodeo clown and a loaf of white bread.
Sugar – also known as Shug – was one of four zebras that bolted from a trailer while being transported from Winlock, east of Seattle, to a petting zoo in Anaconda, Montana. The animals made their dash for freedom when the owner stopped to fix a problem with the trailer.
While three of the zebras were quickly recaptured, the mare proved elusive and was later spotted wandering in the area.
Desperate to be reunited with Sugar, Kristine Keltgen, who owns a petting zoo, appealed for help. Signs were put up on the roadside. One read: “South Fork is Team Zebra! Call 911 if you see her.”
David Danton, 52, a former rodeo clown and bullfighter, joined the volunteers trying to corral Sugar. Having worked in rodeos for 30 years, he’s used to dealing with big animals, including horses and cattle.
Danton devised a complex plan to capture the nervous animal. After Sugar was spotted, he got to work tracking her.
The first step was to create a pen of about three acres, then a series of smaller pens. Danton used Sugar’s favourite treat, white bread, to lure her in. As she munched through oats and hay, he built a smaller pen and a long alley that led to the trailer.
“They did a kind of dragnet, smaller and smaller to guide her into the trailer, and she was hauled off,” said Cameron Satterfield, from the Regional Animal Services of King County. “This could not have ended any better than it did.”