2 Zebras Escaped the Circus, With 2 Different Fates

Two zebras busted out of a German circus Tuesday night, but only one of them was brought back alive. Rostock police say the runaway that didn't make it back ended up on a local highway Wednesday, wreaking havoc in traffic, damaging vehicles, and even spurring a car accident when one driver slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting it, causing a second car to crash into the first one, per the BBC. CNN cites a police press release that details what happened after that 8am accident, which prompted a closure of the highway and a "large police deployment" in a frantic effort to contain the panicked animal.

As authorities did their best to capture the zebra, it ran over a car on the highway, banging up the vehicle's hood. In the chaos, a police squad car was also damaged, and an officer suffered minor injuries. The zebra bolted off into a nearby field, and even its circus trainer was called in to try to retrieve it—but the zebra was uncatchable, and the fire department's animal rescue unit finally swooped in and fatally shot it near the town of Thelkow. Some people on social media want to know why the zebra wasn't taken down with a stun gun instead of a real one. "The exact circumstances are still being clarified," the police release notes. (More zebra stories.)