The small town of North Bend in Washington is famous for its mountain wildlife. Cougar and elk are often seen - bigfoot "sightings" are frequent. Now something wilder has moved in - a zebra that escaped with three others earlier this week on the way to a zoo. While locals quickly "wrangled" three, catching the fourth has proven to be anything but black and white.
Officials say the animal has moved into the Cascade Mountains - and efforts to catch it could take days. The animals escaped from a trailer on Sunday while they were being moved to Montana. Curious bystanders, including brunch-goers and a professional rodeo clown passing through town, managed to corner three of the zebras within hours after they wandered into a horse paddock.
But one remains on the loose five days later, leading to a large response by local volunteers and officials, and an outpouring of memes and silly adverts by Seattle-area businesses. Dallas Clark, a professional tow company owner and horse trainer in his spare time, has been helping lead the volunteer effort to track down the missing zebra.
The female zebra who was initially incorrectly reported to be a male "stallion", has been spotted by dozens of people throughout the week, and was last seen on Thursday morning. Trail cameras confirm that it is eating and drinking and is generally healthy, despite temperatures that have dropped down to near-freezing at night, and the confirmed presence of a mountain lion in the area.