Pet zebra captured more than a week after it escaped home in Tennessee

A pet zebra has finally been captured after he escaped – sparking a week-long manhunt across Tennessee.

Dramatic video footage captured the moment Ed the Zebra was airlifted by a helicopter while wrapped in a net rocking side to side.

‘Ed was airlifted and flown by helicopter back to a waiting animal trailer,’ the sheriff’s office said in a statement. 

The zebra’s owner first reported him missing on May 31, just one day after Ed arrived at his new home in Christiana on May 30.

Ed was spotted galloping along the busy Interstate 24 in shocking video footage.

Officials were forced to completely shut down the road as they attempted to capture Ed.

The animal became an internet sensation during his eight-day adventure through central Tennessee with viral memes circulating the web.

‘Rutherford County Sheriff’s deputies observed a missing zebra through a drone camera Friday morning in a field near Christiana,’ the original post read. 

Deputies tracked the zebra with a drone as Sheriff’s Cpl. White asked people to avoid the area.

A pet zebra has finally been captured after he escaped – sparking a week-long manhunt across Tennessee

The zebra’s owner first reported him missing on May 31, just one day after Ed arrived at his new home in Christiana on May 30

‘The zebra’s owner reported the presence of people and cameras scaring the zebra and potentially harming the efforts to secure the zebra,’ the post continued. 

‘Please avoid the area to allow the safe recovery of the zebra.’  

He was eventually found on Sunday when aviation crews tracked down the animal in a pasture near the Christiana community, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

‘We don’t want to scare the zebra,’ White said. ‘We need time to get him to calm down.’

‘The Sheriff’s Office requested help from a veterinarian to respond to rescue the zebra.’

It’s unclear why officials had to resort to the airlift method to rescue the lost zebra.

This comes just one month after a runway kangaroo shut down a section of Alabama interstate.

The runaway kangaroo named Sheila shut down a stretch of interstate in Alabama  before state troopers and the animal’s owner wrangled the wayward marsupial.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the kangaroo was spotted hopping along the side of Interstate 85 in Macon County, which is between Montgomery and Auburn.

Dramatic video footage captured the moment Ed the Zebra was airlifted by a helicopter while wrapped in a net rocking side to side

Ed was spotted galloping along the busy Interstate 24 in shocking video footage

Officials were forced to completely shut down the road as they attempted to capture Ed

 The sight snarled traffic, and state troopers shut down both sides of the interstate for the safety of motorists. 

The animal’s owner and troopers were able to capture it, Capt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

‘When somebody said there was a kangaroo of course I didn’t believe it, and nobody believed it. But I’m looking at him,’ Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson said in a Facebook live video as the animal was captured.