PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — Four months after escaping from a farm in Maryland, officials said Tuesday that they have safely recaptured two wandering zebras, according to multiple reports.
“They’re safe,” Prince George’s County spokesperson Linda Lowe told WUSA. “They are not on the loose.”
Officials did not immediately say where the zebras were on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said they were among three that escaped Aug. 22 from a herd of nearly 40 zebras on a farm in Upper Marlboro, WUSA reported.
Previously, officials said a third zebra that escaped was found dead in early September after being caught in an illegal snare trap. The trap was found near a fence just outside the exotic animal farm on uninhabited land owned by the Girl Scouts, The Washington Post reported. In a statement, officials with the organization said the trap was put on the property by an “unauthorized trespasser,” according to the newspaper.
The owner of the farm the zebras escaped from, Jerry Lee Holly, has since been charged with animal cruelty, WJLA-TV reported. Holly has been accused of failing to provide adequate food, water or veterinary care for the zebras under his care, according to the news station.
County officials said they also found another zebra from Holly’s herd dead in mid-October on the farm, The Washington Post reported. In court records obtained by the newspaper, officials said the zebra had been dead long enough to reach the “rigor-mortis stage” before it was found.
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