Ed The Zebra's Escape Escapade Ends With Undignified Helicopter Flight

After just over a week on the run, Ed the zebra has finally been caught. The rebellious equine caused quite a stir with his escape antics, shutting down highways, inspiring memes, and even gathering adoring fans across the world when being airlifted to safety. 

The story began on May 31, just one day after Taylor Ford and his wife Laura, residents of Rutherford County, Tennessee, had taken home their new pet, Ed the zebra. However, less than 24 hours later Ed broke free from his new home and made his way across the interstate, causing the local County Sheriff’s department to close the I-24 eastbound and westbound in Christiana. Despite this, the department was unable to capture Ed, who snuck off into some nearby woodlands.

In Tennessee, zebras are known as Class III animals, which means they are legal to keep and do not require any additional paperwork or a special license to be kept as pets. Other animals in this category are giraffes, camels, and llamas. 

After a week on the lam, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office posted a video to their Facebook page of Ed being flown by helicopter winch, suspended in a net with his head sticking out, back to a waiting animal trailer. He was located near the Buchanan Estates subdivision, in a pasture near I- 24, they explained in the post. 

Of course with social media on the lookout Ed quickly became something of an internet sensation, with memes following the runaway garnering nearly as much attention within the community. One person even baked a zebra head cake in Ed’s honor, while others took to AI to generate a song about Ed. 

Ed is not the first runaway to cause something of a social media stir, nor even the most famous escapee. Flamingo number 492 left a zoo in Kansas in 2005, only to be found over a decade later in Texas. A bear in Italy left home for 42 days before being brought back to his enclosure. A bright rainbow lorikeet hitched a ride on an unsuspecting visitor at Colchester Zoo in the UK to aid in its escape, and 43 rhesus macaques escaped a research facility in South Carolina late last year. 

While most (but not all) runaway animals are better off going back where they came from, we can't help but root for these plucky escapees.