Korean Zebra loose in downtown Seoul after escape from Zoo

Black and white Seoul: Sero a young Zebra escaped onto the streets of the Korean capital on Thursday. Photo / Instagram, hwan._.man

The exotic black and white animal spotted on the streets of the Korean capital could be straight from the films of Bong Joon-ho. However, it turns out Sero the Zebra was just stretching its legs after escaping an animal park in west Gwangjin-gu on Thursday.

The young zebra walked, trotted and galloped for hours in the busy streets of Seoul city before emergency workers tranquilized the animal and brought it back to a zoo.

The zebra — a two-year-old male named Sero born in the Korean zoo — was in stable condition and being examined by veterinarians as of Thursday evening, said Choi Ye-ra, an official at the Children’s Grand Park in Seoul.

The zoo told AP was investigating how the zebra managed to escape. She didn’t immediately confirm media reports that the animal partially destroyed the wooden fencing surrounding its pen before busting out around 2:50 p.m.

Social media was flowing with smartphone videos of the zebra trotting alongside lines of cars that were waiting for the greenlight at an intersection, and galloping through a street surrounded by commercial buildings as pedestrians stopped and gasped.

“Standard Seoul, for sure,” wrote one local who posted images of the animal trotting across a zebra crossing.

“It looks hot outside Seoul today. Almost tropical,” wrote one joker.

Others said they would not have known what to do, or would have run away.

Authorities of Seoul Metropolitan Facilities Management Corporation transported Sero the zebra back to the zoo. Photo / Suh Dae-hyeon, Yonhap AP

Police and emergency workers managed to corner the zebra after it entered a narrow alleyway between houses and shot it with tranquilizers, ending its three hours of freedom.

While it took a couple of hours for locals to work out where the exotic beast had come from, the animal park eventually claimed the Zebra as an escapee. The zoo told CBS that the animal was born at the facility in 2021.

According to officials there were no reported injuries or damage to property as Sero went on a daytrip round downtown Seoul.

- With additional AP reporting