News & Politics

New Plan for Catching the Fugitive Maryland Zebras: More Zebras

With two new ungulates in a corral, it's like a zebra honeypot

Photograph via iStock.

The owners of Maryland’s fugitive zebras have a new approach to catching the two zebras who are still on the run: They’ve placed two more zebras in a corral, hoping to attract the zebras with food and ungulate companionship. This approach, Prince George’s County Department of the Environment says in a press release, has the support of both veterinarians from the USDA and the county Department of the Environment’s Animal Services Staff. The owners reportedly keep more than three dozen zebras.

The Washington Post reported last week that Croom Road in Upper Marlboro has been a fruitful spot for zebra sightings. Chris Horrell of Upper Marlboro managed to record a sighting on his phone, an encounter that  led him to “stare into the zebra’s soul,” WUSA reports. Horrell told the station in a must-watch video that he didn’t think that the government agencies engaged in tracking down the zebras were trying hard enough: “I found them that easy,” he said.

[su_youtube url=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GloKigj64uQ”]

The release was issued on October 15, so Washingtonian asked the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment whether the “honeypot” strategy had yielded any results or promising leads. There are no updates at this time, spokesperson Linda M. Lowe says.

Correction: This article originally said the press release came from Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. It was from the Prince George’s Department of the Environment.  

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.