I'm with you WIllie! I've known a couple Zedonks- (zebra and donkey hybrid) and IMO they are not much better then a wolf hybrid. Never met a Zorse- though I assume the personality remains the same.

Just a little bit of something wild can totally throw our domestic animals for a loop. We need to leave the wild, WILD.

 Quote: Kelly Byrd

We need to leave the wild, WILD.

Ditto

Yeah, Im out the west, Nevada...in the boonies. He was able use the river he was fishing to get in between the zebra by falling in it. It was a pretty funny story to hear. The only thing he lost in the river was some skin off his leg, but, all his gear and camera came out ok!

...and prior to going for a swim, he tried to calm the beast by shaking a can of rocks in hopes it would think he had some grain or something, thinking it would act like a horse. Ha!

When I lived in CA, there was a pet shop where the owner kept some kind of wild cat in a fiberglass? case. THey said it was a pet. My youngest son was in a stroller at the time that cat was eyeballing him...freaked me out. I can't imagine having a pet like that.

Somewhere in this post I thought someone mentioned the wolf hybrid not being that pretty. I googled pictures and I agree...very creepy looking.

I'm an Eastoner & know of BLM land.

That is the gov't owned land, out in western states, that the mustang herds are allowed to run free on & then rounded up & sold yearly. Some actually get into the hands of horse people & are eventually 'broken'/tamed & trained to be ridden or as pack animals....the not so lucky live in pens on BLM land livestock areas & the very unlucky end up in a horse killer transport & then in a can. All in the name of 'progress' to keep the wild ones from encroaching on privately owned land & competing for grazing areas with private rancher's domestic livestock like cattle, & sheep.

 Quote: Anne Jones

I'm an Eastoner & know of BLM land.

Yeah, sure, make me feel even dumber!

So what the heck is a zebra doing running around on BLM land?

 Quote: Anne Jones

I'm an Eastoner & know of BLM land.

That is the gov't owned land, out in western states, that the mustang herds are allowed to run free on & then rounded up & sold yearly. Some actually get into the hands of horse people & are eventually 'broken'/tamed & trained to be ridden or as pack animals....the not so lucky live in pens on BLM land livestock areas & the very unlucky end up in a horse killer transport & then in a can. All in the name of 'progress' to keep the wild ones from encroaching on privately owned land & competing for grazing areas with private rancher's domestic livestock like cattle, & sheep.

Us ranchers actually work pretty hard at keeping the wild horses free. I don't know anyone around here that is against the horses roaming and grazing. I do know quite a few horses that were captured and broke though...they turned out to be pretty good trail horses. My parents used to get sooo pissed when I would allow the wild horses to eat our hay. I'd just sit and watch...then get in trouble.

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

 Quote: Anne Jones

I'm an Eastoner & know of BLM land.

So what the heck is a zebra doing running around on BLM land?

Great question. He called the NDOW (Nevada Department of Wildlife)...haven't heard anything back.

BLM is government owned land that is preserved to allow native animals to live as is. It is to preserve the natural land. Most of it is accessible by the public for recreational use and more than half is available for ranchers to use as grazing land for their cattle. It is located in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as every state west of them, including Alaska.

Mustangs area fairly common as riding horses around here and most tame up really well eventually. As for why their may be wild zebras running BLM land, I can give a good guess...

Our family owns some land (1000 or so acres) just east of Hearst Castle. Hearst, like many very rich, had a private zoo on his property. Back in the 1940's and 1950's his collection of animals was sold off with many of the animals simply just released. Many are still free ranging in the area including white fallow deer, sambar deer and ZEBRAS!!! The huge, wild herd is a popular tourist attraction in the area... Beautiful running down the beach near San Simeon.

Much of the land is unfenced and these animals range all over private land, and we have seen many throughout the years on our land (we, like most who own land in the area, use it primarily for hunting and let cattle ranchers graze their livestock). Many ranchers also release their old horses to retire to the easy life. For some reason, these herds of old horses and some outcast(?) zebras have banded up over the years. The zebras are pretty tame and will follow the old horses up to get handfuls of grain or an apple from the kids when we go out there. A couple of the old mares have given birth to zorses over the years as well. They are just left to the herd and generally ignored by the ranchers.

Zebra thrive where horses and cattle are kept (free food and ample water) and we have very few predators large enough to keep their populations in check (mountain lions may get a foal, but they typically stick to deer as their largest prey...)

The current economic situation has left many unable to care for horses (usually a luxury item) and they are abandoned all the time by owners that think they will have an easier life in the wild. Hell, we have had people tie their horses up to our trailer when we go ride on the beach. Not a fun thing to come back to... Very sad... Anyway, could easily see that people who have zebras would do the same thing. They are typically cranky and have no value other than as a curiosity, so letting them go wild would be an easy way out.