Woman stunned to see zebra wandering California neighborhood

MURRIETA, Calif. -- A Riverside County neighborhood briefly looked like a zoo when a zebra was spotted wandering the streets, CBS Los Angeles reports.

People in suburban La Cresta are used to seeing horses, but not ones with stripes.

“Driving over here, and I’m thinking this has got to be a prank. No one’s got zebras here or any place else that I’m aware of other than the zoo,” said Nancy Risen.

She said she didn’t believe it when a neighbor first told her a zebra was on the loose Sunday morning. But then she saw it with her own eyes.

“The zebra got close to the car. Said hi, how are you? That kind of thing. It was priceless. A priceless experience,” Risen recalled.

Risen said she did not know that people were allowed to keep zebras. Riverside County Animal Services said there are no restrictions or permits needed to own zebras.

The agency said it was not contacted when the zebra got loose. Risen said that was because neighbors took it upon themselves to corral it and a few other ponies, which had also escaped their enclosure.

“You can always count on someone to help you. I can’t say how nice it is to have that with a neighborhood,” Risen added.

She took a photo of the animals being led back home, followed by a car with a bale of hay in the trunk.

Now that she has seen how well behaved zebras can be, she would not mind having one.

“I would. But I think my husband would kill me if I brought home yet another large animal,” Risen joked.