Escaped zebra closes interstate

ATLANTA – An Atlanta highway turned into a circus Thursday when an escaped zebra galloped along a busy section of interstate with police in hot pursuit.

The 12-year-old animal, named Lima, was exercising outside a downtown arena when something spooked him, said Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus spokeswoman Crystal Drake. The zebra broke away from his trainers and wriggled through a fence.

He was spotted by people in downtown Atlanta around 4:30 p.m., said Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Monica Luck.

Daniel Nance said he saw the zebra near the downtown transit station.

“All of a sudden a freaking zebra comes running down the street like a car,” Nance said. “Five or six police cars were in hot pursuit and a bunch of officers on foot.”

Lima led his trainers and police on a 40-minute chase through downtown to the interstate highway that cuts through the center of the city. Police cruisers blocked off all southbound lanes of Interstate 75 and were able to herd the zebra over to the right shoulder and off an entrance ramp, where his trainer was waiting.