I was chased by the North Bend zebra

There’s a sign when you pull into the parking lot for the South Fork restaurant in North Bend. It says, “South Fork is Team Zebra,” and advises people to call 911 if they see it.

People in this town are obsessed with finding the zebra that’s been on the loose now for five days. They’re looking for it in dog parks, in the pastures where wild elk graze, and on isolated backroads.

Zebra rescuers are now pleading with the public to stay away.

For those that encounter the zebra in person, it leaves a mark.

D

aniel Thimsen is a cook at Twede’s café. He and a friend were hiking back down the trail from rattlesnake lake, when it happened.

“I like looked at my friend, and I looked back. I’m like, ‘something doesn’t feel right, right now.’ And I turned around, and I saw the zebra running right at us. We started running. And while we were running, we were laughing. And we said to each other, ‘Oh, what do we do now?’"

Luckily, they spotted a little side trail. They stepped off, and the zebra kept going straight. They got a good look at it as it shot by.

“It looked like – a larger donkey," Thimsen says. "A donkey that looks like it lifts weights, basically.”

Soon after, a mountain biker pulled up beside them, “and was like, ‘Do you know where the zebra went? I’ve been following him the past couple minutes.’ So we found out that that guy kind of flushed him down onto us, and he was pretty scared, that’s why he was chasing us.”

The zebra wasn’t the only one that was scared.

“Later I found out that they, like, beat up lions and stuff like that," Thimsen says. "So, a little scary experience.”

Down the street, the Dairy Freeze has turned into ground zero for sharing zebra news and sightings.

That’s how cashier Jenna Randall learned the zebra’s name: Z.

“Some people have come here and said they’re trying to look for Z and stuff," Randall says. "And they’re asking if I’ve seen any sightings, the last sighting. I just told someone today, the last sighting I’ve heard was in river bend, where, actually like I live. So yeah I gave her directions to go there, so I don’t know if she’s on here way to look over there. I don’t know.”

People have their own reasons for wanting to see the zebra. They’re curious. They worry about the zebra’s survival chances, and want to help authorities locate it. Or – they’re chasing something they can’t quite describe.

Something like Clair Krause experienced while working at a restaurant down the road, called South Fork.

“We were kind of in the middle of our normal Sunday brunch chaos that we always have here," Krause says. "And someone had kind of mentioned that – they saw – I wasn’t quite sure if I heard them right when they said ‘a zebra.’”

She joined the other staff by the front window – and there they were, in stark black and white against the colorful cars in the parking lot.

“It’s just kind of one of those like, little [gasp] moments, where, ‘Is this real I’m seeing? Is it a mirage type of thing?’ Like, in Harry Potter - their little, like, smoke creatures?” she says.

Their patronus?

“Yeah, their patronus! Yeah, something kind of like that," Krause says. "Yeah, it’s something that’s like, magical, that you don’t really feel like is attainable, but in that moment, it was real. You know what I mean?”

Some people in North Bend fear the one remaining zebra will get eaten by a cougar.

A team that says it's trying to rescue the zebra says crowds could scare it into the wilderness where it will never be found. They're pleading with the public to stay away.

Others are confident the zebra will find refuge among the hundreds of elk that graze in this valley.

Or, it could be caught, and brought to join its family in Montana.

Whatever happens, people here will remember it.

“Even if you’re having a bad day, I’m just gonna try to remember moments like that in my when I need a little bit of a pick me up,” Krause says.

Oh, and down at the Dairy Freeze, they’re saying eventually, you may be able to buy a T-shirt here in town of a zebra carrying a sasquatch.

Joshua McNichols is co-host of KUOW's economy podcast, Booming. He does not usually cover escaped zebras.

UPDATE 5/2/2024 6:18 PM:

• Regional Animal Services of King County reports that contrary to the owner's original statement, the missing zebra is a mare, or female zebra, not a stallion.
• The agency confirmed this with recent photos submitted by the public.
• Anyone who sights the zebra should call 9-1-1, and not try to capture the animal.

Update 5/2/2024 7:00 PM:

Zebra rescuers are now pleading with the public to stay away, so that they can lure the zebra with bait without it being frightened away. They say some hikers have even brought unleashed dogs.