4 Zebras Broke Free on a Highway. A Rodeo Clown Stepped In.
Four zebras escaped from a trailer on a highway exit in Washington State on Sunday, leading dozens of residents, police officers and volunteers to join in an effort to corral them.
Among them was a person with particular expertise in wrangling loose animals: David Danton, of Mount Vernon, Wash., who worked for nearly 15 years as a rodeo clown and rodeo bullfighter.
He and his wife, Julie Danton, had been driving home from a cattle drive in eastern Washington when they stopped to help the police and neighbors capture the zebras in North Bend, Wash., about 30 miles east of Seattle.
“It was kind of divine intervention — we happened to be in the exact spot and had the knowledge,” Ms. Danton said.
Mr. Danton said he built some makeshift gates out of rope, metal panels and a garden hose, and got two of the zebras to run into a pen on a horse farm. Then, he said, he helped build an “alleyway” out of metal panels to usher the zebras safely into a large trailer.
“It worked out as well as it possibly could have,” Mr. Danton said. “It’s just about being quiet, working them gentle and not getting excited.”