(Washington) An American remains hospitalized on Tuesday after his zebra was seriously bitten in the arm over the weekend, which had to be put down by police, authorities in Ohio, in the northern United States, said.
Law enforcement was on the scene Sunday afternoon, called by a 72-year-old man who said “he was bitten on the arm by a zebra”, according to a police report obtained by AFP.
As an officer drove up to the victim, who was bleeding profusely, a male zebra with “very hostile behavior” charged at him, he explains in this document from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
The initial police report said the victim’s arm appeared to have been “dismembered”, and an officer said he had tourniqueted him, but the exact nature of his injuries is unclear.
The “aggressive” animal stayed close to the police, who were trying to scare it away. Footage from a body camera of one of the officers present shows a man chasing him with a stick.
The zebra had managed to get within a few feet of the officers when an officer fired, killing it instantly. Officers “had no choice but to shoot him” for their safety, one officer said in the report.
The victim was then transported to a hospital in Columbus, capital of Ohio.
He is still there on Tuesday, but his condition is “good,” according to a spokeswoman for Ohio Health, the hospital manager.
The slaughtered equine appears to have had “a protective behavior towards five or six female zebras that were in the field” with him, which could explain his aggressiveness, the police report said.
Zebras are not listed as “dangerous wild animals” in the state of Ohio, which means an individual can own them as a pet.