A zebra is missing in Tennessee. Yes, a zebra.
According to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, the animal “disappeared from its owner” over the weekend after somehow escaping captivity in the middle of the night on Friday, May 31. What followed was a chaos montage straight out of a fever dream: doorbell cam footage of the zebra trotting through a neighborhood, drivers swerving as it bolted down Interstate 24, and deputies temporarily shutting down both sides of the highway to avoid a multi-vehicle disaster.
And days later? The zebra is still at large.
Traffic, Trees, and a Very Illegal Legal Zebra
After galloping through residential streets and wreaking “havoc” on the interstate, the zebra vanished into a wooded area near Joe B. Jackson Parkway and Epps Mill Road. Its owner attempted to chase it down—yes, chased it into the woods—but the animal has remained elusive.
Incredibly, this isn’t illegal. Tennessee classifies zebras as Class III animals, meaning no permits are required to keep them as pets. Just pick one up, bring it home, and hope it doesn’t bolt down a major interstate the next day.
The Library of Congress has previously noted that zebras are notoriously “unpredictable” and prone to aggression, making them wildly unsuitable for domestication—but that hasn’t stopped Americans from trying.
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This Isn’t Even the First Time
As surreal as it is to imagine a zebra shutting down a highway in the American South, it’s not even the first zebra escape in recent memory. In 2024, four zebras being transported in Washington State escaped when their handler stopped to adjust the trailer. One named “Shug” was missing for six days. The internet dubbed it the “zearch.”
No word yet on whether this zebra has a name, but given how this is going, we might all know it soon enough.
Local Officials: Bemused but Unbothered
Despite the chaos, officials have taken the whole thing in stride.
“It isn’t all black and white when it comes to chasing down a missing zebra,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook, leaning into the puns with all the calm of a community that has definitely seen weirder.
The department confirmed that the zebra’s owners are still actively searching and, for now, the animal is not considered a danger to the public—unless, of course, you’re driving on the interstate at zebra-o’clock.
Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should
The zebra’s great escape may seem like a harmless oddity, but it raises a familiar American question: why is this legal? In a state where it’s easier to adopt a zebra than a dog from some shelters, the surreal quickly becomes structural. Tennessee may not require permits, but maybe it should require common sense.
Until then, somewhere in the woods outside Murfreesboro, a zebra is living its best life—no fences, no rules, just vibes.
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