It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a — zebra? People in central Tennessee were stunned when they looked up and saw a zebra being airlifted in the sky. The zebra had been on the loose for more than a week before officials managed to track the animal down and take him back to safety. But not before the internet caught wind of the animal’s escapades and made him a star.
The zebra became instant internet gold after videos started circulating of him online.
@peytonkennedytv THE TENNESSEE ZEBRA IS SAVED #missingzebra #edthezebra
Call the clip wickedly good. The video shows the zebra being airlifted to a song from the hit musical Wicked. And it’s just so fitting. Guess the zebra was defying gravity, right?
“THE TENNESSEE ZEBRA IS SAVED,” the video’s poster, Peyton Kennedy wrote in the caption.
Related: Zebra Tries to Join a Herd of Horses and Total Chaos Ensues
The comments section couldn’t help but laugh.
“Why does he look so embarrassed?” wondered one person.
“He’s like, ‘Yup, that’s me. You probably wonder how I got here…’” another commenter joked.
“Imagine living your whole life on the ground and then all the sudden this happens,” quipped another person.
“Imagine not knowing there was a missing zebra and then just seeing this,” someone else teased.
According to the Associated Press, the zebra is named Ed and first came to Christiana, Tennessee on May 30. His owner reported him missing the next day.
From that point on, the wild animal was spotted in different spots around town, including along Interstate 24. The zebra’s appearance caused police to shut the interstate down, but they still weren’t able to capture him.
Ed continued to be spotted out and about in Christian. Footage of the animal was shared on social media, prompting all sorts of hilarious memes and videos. Eventually the zebra was tracked down to a pasture near a subdivision.
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that once they spotted the zebra they sent out aviation crews to reign the animal in.
“Ed was airlifted and flown by helicopter back to a waiting animal trailer,” a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
We’re sure that Ed was a little nervous being that high in the air during the rescue. But take heart, Ed! You’ve become internet gold.
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