The Day the Zebras Escaped the Circus in Philadelphia

Zebras! Zebras black and white,

Running loose in broad daylight.

Circus zebras on a wild spree

Giving chase on the streets of Philly!

The zebras are seen running loose in this photo by a Twitter user.

The jokes (and poetry) nearly write themselves. It sounds like something out of Dr. Seuss or another children’s book, but a pair of zebras actually escaped captivity and ran wild on the streets of Philadelphia Sunday. The striped animals ran loose from UniverSoul Circus, which was set up in Fairmount Park. Officials are still scratching their heads over the question of how the animals escaped. The zebras gamboled through the streets up to two miles away from where they started. Places the zebras were seen included a Planet Fitness parking lot, near the mall, at a KFC on City Avenue, and down several neighborhood streets. They also stopped traffic – literally – in several locations. The zebras were loose for approximately 30 minutes.

The Philadelphia Police had a good time with the story, tweeting that, “Zebras in custody. They are already sporting old-timey prisoner getup ahead of trial and sentencing. Have faith, fellas.” It wasn’t the only mention of the zebras on social media. Citizens took to Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat to document their own close encounters with the zebras.

Animal activists are not taking the matter with such a light heart. Animal ACTivists of Philly and PETA both condemned the circus for not taking better care of the animals, and made the generalization that circus animals are exploited and poorly treated, anyway. PETA wants the circus – and all circuses – to immediately retire all animal acts, but that’s nothing new.

In any case, the zebras are now safe and on their way to UniverSoul’s next stop of Charlotte, North Carolina.