Man hospitalized after pet zebra attacks him

A man in Ohio was hospitalized on Sunday after his pet zebra mauled him.

Emergency dispatchers in Circleville, Ohio were startled after they received a panicked call from a local man claiming he was attacked by a zebra.

Deputies at the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office were forced to shoot the rampaging equine after responding to the scene at a family farm around 5.30pm on Sunday evening.

They arrived at the scene to find a victim bleeding heavily from his arm. After using an airhorn to temporarily scare away the zebra, first responders were able to apply a tourniquet and transport the man to an ambulance.

The victim from the of the zebra attack was identified as a local farmer and owner of the herd (Picture: Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office via AFP/GETTY)

A family member tried to scare the zebra away from the victim with a large stick (Picture: Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office)

Throughout the rescue, the zebra continued to act aggressive and menaced the deputies’ patrol cars. The victim, who was identified as the animal’s owner, gave law enforcement permission to put the animal down if necessary.

Body camera footage released by the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday shows a man successfully chasing the zebra away from deputies with a large stick. But just after he leaves, the equine begins approaching the two deputies holding shotguns at the ready.

The animal was killed by a single gunshot to the head.

‘The zebra didn’t slow down and kept coming at me,’ the deputy wrote in an incident report.

Sheriff’s deputies were forced to shoot the rampaging zebra (Picture: Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office)

The victim was later identified by the Columbus Dispatch as 72-year-old farmer Ronald Clifton. He was transported to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, and he is expected to keep his arm.

Clifton, who owns the property just south of Columbus, has also owned a herd of zebras in the area for years. Clifton told deputies the attacker was the only male in the herd, and the only one that displayed aggressive tendencies.

The sheriff’s office said the zebra may have been trying to protect the herd of females from what it thought were attackers.

Zebras are not considered exotic animals in Ohio, and therefore exempt from the state’s ban on ownership.

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Emergency dispatchers in Circleville, Ohio were startled after they received a panicked call from a local man claiming he was attacked by a zebra.