ATLANTA — An Atlanta highway turned into a circus Thursday afternoon when an escaped zebra galloped along a busy section of interstate with police in hot pursuit.
The 12-year-old animal, named Lima, was exercising outside a downtown arena before an evening show when something spooked him, said Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus spokeswoman Crystal Drake. The zebra broke from his trainers and bumped up against a fence, then wriggled through an opening.
“We’re not sure what it was that startled him, but we’re looking into that,” she said.
Daniel Nance said he saw the zebra near the downtown MARTA transit station.
“All of a sudden, a freaking zebra comes running down the street like a car,” Nance told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Five or six police cars were in hot pursuit. And a bunch of officers on foot. But then I got scared, thinking . . . what else is loose?”
Lima led his trainers and police on a 40-minute chase through downtown to Interstate 75 until police herded him off an entrance ramp, where his trainer was on hand to capture and soothe him, Drake said.
“He obviously was excited, but he was in good shape,” Drake said. “His handler calmed him down.”
The animal suffered cuts on his hooves from his long run, Drake said.
