A zebra in Ohio attacked a man and charged police before it was shot

Police in Ohio fatally shot a zebra after it bit its owner on the arm and continued to act aggressively toward officers, authorities said.

Officers arrived to the man’s home in Circleville, Ohio, on Sunday after he called and reported that “his arm had been bitten off by a zebra”.

They found the man lying on the ground in a field, arm injured but still attached, according to officials.

Officers then helped the man onto an ambulance and sent him to a hospital.

An officer attempted to block the zebra from getting to the man by parking his police cruiser in between the injured man and the angry animal – but the zebra charged at his driver’s side door, according to a Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office report obtained by the BBC.

The officer said he then used his air horn and sirens to try to stave off the zebra and buy himself some time to help the injured man – measures that only worked temporarily.

As police were taking the man to an ambulance, the zebra came back. The family who owned the property told police they could shoot the zebra should he draw nearer, an affiliate from BBC’s US media partner, CBS, reports

Bodycam footage released by the sheriff’s office shows the zebra charging toward deputies before one fires a shotgun and kills it, WBNS reports.

The cause for the zebra’s behaviour remains unclear, but authorities said it may have been attempting to protect female zebras in the same field.

The injured man was sent to a hospital where officials say he is expected to recover.

Zebras are not categorised as wild and dangerous animals by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, enabling them to be owned as pets.