A black-and-white striped fugitive ran through Staten Island yesterday, only to be apprehended shortly after his escape. Paparazzi, four months old, had an accomplice, Casper, 14, who masterminded the escape.
They probably would have gotten away with it, too, if Razzi were a little more inconspicuous. Unfortunately for him, he is a super-cute baby zebra, which means he attracted quite a lot of attention and was caught too quickly for anyone to even set up an @EscapedBabyZebra parody Twitter account. (His buddy Casper is a fat pony and was probably pissed that Razzi’s showoff stripey face foiled his plans.)
Razzi was brought to Staten Island to join a petting zoo, The New York Times explains:
“I figured I’d get something a little different,” [owner Giovanni Schirripa] said.
For the petting zoo, Mr. Schirripa rented a llama, two alpacas, two cows, six pigs, and three ducks. But the zebra was for keeps.
“I always wanted a zebra, ‘cause nobody else has one,” he said, adding that he loved exotics and owned other animals whose species he would not mention.
It’s surprisingly cheap to buy a zebra: just $6,000 for a colt like Razzi. It is, however, illegal to keep one in New York City without a permit. We don’t think Razzi was trying to turn himself in, though. Probably, he was just tired of living in a converted single-car garage in a Staten Island backyard. We’d want to get out of there, too.
