VIDEO: Ohio police shoot zebra dead after it chews off the arm of its owner

An Ohio man had to have his arm reattached after the zebra he owned chewed it off. Police eventually shot and killed the zebra.

Police released some of the bodycam footage from the bizarre incident that unfolded on Sunday at about 5:30 p.m. in the man's fenced-in field in Pickaway County.

Deputies from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office arrived to the scene to find the man on the ground injured and covering his right arm with his sleeve. They used their cruisers to block the zebra from charging the man as his family members helped place him into an ambulance.

Police decided to shoot the zebra in the head with a shotgun after it kept acting aggressively, and they discussed their options with the family of the man.

Pickaway County Sheriff Matthew Hafey explained the decision to shoot the zebra to WCMH-TV.

“The zebra had already shown aggression. And speaking with some of the family members and friends, apparently, this zebra has been aggressive in the past,” said Hafey.

“I told (the deputy) I fully support what he did," he added. "He did what was best to protect the people on the scene there. And I talked to some people on the scene there, and they said that they would have ended up doing the same thing if the deputy had not done that.”

The zebra owner was taken to the Grant Medical Center for treatment, and a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said he will not lose his arm.

Dan Beetem, director of Animal Management at The Wilds, told WCMH that the zebra might have been acting on instinct.

“They’re definitely wild animals and still have, like, kind of all those wild instincts and behaviors,” Beetem said. “Male zebras are territorial. Their job is to get and hold a group of females that he wants to breed, and he’ll be very protective of those against any kind of challenger.”

One deputy wrote that the “zebra was aggressive due to being protective of about five or six female zebras that were in the field.”

Zebras are not considered dangerous wild animals by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, but the ownership of zebras can be subject to local regulation in the state.

Here's the video of the bizarre incident:

Zebra bites, injures owner's arm before it's fatally shot by sheriff's deputywww.youtube.com

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!