CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — A man was taken to the hospital Sunday afternoon after a zebra attacked him in Pickaway County.
According to an incident report from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were sent to the 6900 block of Darby Road in Circleville at around 5:30 p.m. to a fenced-in field after hearing reports a man had his arm dismembered by a zebra he owned.
As deputies arrived, they saw the victim laying on the ground with his right arm covered with his sleeve. The incident report says the victim had his arm bitten off by the zebra.
NBC4 has an edited version of deputies’ bodycam footage of the attack below.
While deputies were treating the man, the zebra continued acting aggresive and charged one deputy cruiser that was positioned to block the animal from the man. The man was accompanied by family members while he was being put in an ambulance as the zebra continued acting hostile.
Deputies began blowing air horns and yelling at the zebra to scare it away but it continued to charge toward authorities and the victim’s family members. They told the deputies not to turn their backs on the zebra, since that was when it would attack, and gave them permission to put down the zebra if necessary. A deputy then fatally shot the zebra in the head due to its continued aggressive behavior.
One account from a PCSO deputy in the incident report says the “zebra was aggressive due to being protective of about five or six female zebras that were in the field.”
After the zebra was killed, the man was taken to Grant Medical Center for his injuries.
