‘Mad’ zebra corralled after brief escape in Tennessee

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A zebra briefly got loose from a livestock auction in east-central Tennessee on Friday, prompting a local elementary school to issue a warning to parents on social media.

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According to a Facebook post on Prescott South Elementary School’s page., the animal had bolted from a truck, had been tased and was “mad,” WKRN reported.

The zebra escaped from the Triple W Livestock Auction in Cookville, WTVF reported. Cookeville police officers and Putnam County deputies were called to help auction employees capture the animal.

Ashley Danielle Francis, a teacher at Prescott South Middle School, said she thought the post was a joke and called the elementary school to tell them their Facebook page was hacked, WZTV reported. That is, until she saw the zebra trotting down a highway toward the school.

“It’s real,” Francis wrote in a Facebook post.

Two officers attempted to use a stun gun on the zebra, but school officials said that simply agitated the animal, WTVF reported.

“The lack of traffic at that time of day allowed officers to attempt multiple methods of regaining control of the animal in an effort to minimize injury to the zebra, the motoring public, and everyone on (the) scene,” the Cookeville Police Department said in a news release.

School officials said the zebra was captured just after 7:30 a.m., WKRN reported.

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