Why do people insist on keeping exotic animals for pets? Monkeys, lions, tigers, lizards, zebras. It almost never ends well. These are dangerous animals that simply do not adapt well to domestication. Sadly, too many stupid humans find out the hard way that wild, exotic animals can also be extremely dangerous.
The latest example of why you should consider a dog or cat instead of, oh say, a zebra comes from Ohio. Police had to be called after a knuckleheads pet zebra got out of pocket and almost chomped his arm off. Who says this stuff is only for Florida man? Check this out.
Law enforcement officials were forced to kill a zebra in Ohio on Sunday after it nearly tore a man’s arm off on his rural property.
Deputies from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office received the call from 72-year-old Ronald Clifton at around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday after he reported being attacked by the animal.
It is unclear what the man was doing with or to the zebra. Was he trying to ride his striped horsey? Was he chewing Fruit Stripe Gum at the time and the zebra wanted a stick but opted for arm instead?
An Ohio man, whose arm was nearly bitten off by a zebra he owned, called 911 to request medical help on his property on Sunday. https://t.co/qPt1QRzxI9 pic.twitter.com/1S4sfpJasu
— Enquirer (@Enquirer) March 15, 2023
A stunned operator asked the man, “You got attacked by a what?!”
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“Oh hell yes, I think he tore my arm off … send a chopper,” Clifton responded. “Come before it gets me again!”
When deputies arrived at the scene they discovered a herd of zebras. One of the deputies parked his vehicle in between the victim and the zebra.
Previous to this, I thought zebras were docile creatures. Almost like Dollar Store horses. Thankfully I didn’t find out the hard way like one armed Ronald here did.
“One of the zebra actually went up to our deputy, the first one that was on scene, and poked his head towards the driver’s side of his car and his window,” Pickaway County Sheriff’s Lt. Jonathan Strawser said. “The deputy had to hit the air horn to get the zebra to go away.”
While first responders worked on Clifton, deputies had their shotguns drawn as they watched the animal walking around nearby.
Video shows the zebra started to walk toward one of the deputies, who warned it to back off, and when the zebra did not stop he opened fire on the animal from 15-20 feet away. The zebra died just a few feet from the deputy.
It is sad that an exotic animal had to die at the hands of people’s stupidity, but here we are. Perhaps the police should have surveyed the scene and just decided “you get what you get” and drove away. Instead when one of the zebras didn’t obey commands to stop advancing, as if they understand English, the officer had to protect himself.
Thankfully, since zebras are both black and white, BLM likely won’t be burning down any cities in protest.
“I had to make a decision,” Sgt. Stacey Eitel says in the clip. “I put a slug right between its eyes.”
Later in the clip, Eitel said, “I ain’t going to let no one else get hurt. It wasn’t going to stop. It kept coming.”
ABC News reported that Eitel said in his report that the male zebra that he had to kill was “protective of about five or six female zebras that were in the field at this location upon our arrival.”
Perhaps that explains why the zebra was so aggressive. He was just trying to impress the zebra ladies. Who amongst us hasn’t done something stupid for the opposite sex?
Zebras are legally allowed to be pets in Ohio for some reason, so authorities say they won’t be removed. Meanwhile, Clifton is expected to make a full recovery and keep his arm. He is lucky that was all that was almost bitten off. He might not be so lucky next time.