Zebra escapes Seoul Children's Grand Park, roams streets of Seoul

[Simon Hampel]

Bemused pedestrians watch as zebra runs through the streets of Seoul

A zebra wandered the streets of Seoul for three hours after escaping from a zoo in the South Korean capital on Thursday.

Bemused pedestrians looked on as the beast trotted past cars, wandered down a street and poked its nose in garbage bins, footage showed.

The zebra, named Sero, which means vertical in Korean, had broken free from a zoo at the Seoul Children's Grand Park.

Officials managed to trap the zebra and give it anaesthetic muscle relaxants, Seoul Gwangjin Fire Station said. It was taken back to the zoo on the back of a pick-up truck, footage showed.

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[dt644]

I think the situation has calmed down, so I will deliver the local situation in Korea about this accident.


In the early days of the incident, many media in Korea saying that the reason he escaped was because he was "sullen." They said "Sero fought with the kangaroo of the neighboring exhibit, and rebelled against the zookeeper, It was by a confusion about the loss of both of his parents."

However, at this point, there are arguments criticizing such reports by the media. Choi Tae-kyu, the CEO of Project Moon Bear, the captive bear rescue group criticized that media's personification about Sero is obscuring the nature of the incident.

He criticized the lack of management of the Children's Grand Park, citing the fact that it used fences at the level that could break by zebras and that training about Sero was immature.

He also criticized media reports makes zoo's poor management problem was downgraded to a simple deviation of a zebra and pointed out that the a plan announced by Children's Grand Park, "importing a new female zebra to be Sero's partner" could not be a solution to the incident.


In fact, as I said a few times before, there is still a severe lack of consciousness about zoos in Korea. Even if an animal escapes from zoo, people are only alert for a short time only when people or animals die, but in this case, various photos, CCTV footage, and even the zebra's name 'Sero', which Korean means "vertical", there were so many factors that can make a joke of the incident.

Until a few days ago, all kinds of paintings, AI paintings and composite photos depicting zebras were pouring out, saying, "Let's make Sero's dreams come true." But I'm questionable how it can help Sero, who essentially has to live his entire life inside the zoo's exhibit. I hope Korean's pay attention to the Sero, a male plains zebra living in Seoul Children's Grand Park and his life.

 

[dt644]

On May 15, local time in Korea, the YouTube channel of Seoul Facilities Corporation, the operating company of Seoul Children's Grand Park announced a new zebra that will be a partner of Sero.

She is a female plain zebra named "Coco" at Gwangju Uchi Park Zoo. And the same video, they said the construction is underway to double the area of the outdoor exhibit of zebra.

Two days later, on the 17th, this news was reported through various media outlets, with titles and contents such as "Sero got a life partner" and "He escaped from celibacy."

However, I personally think it is very unfortunate that the Seoul Children's Grand Park is trying to keep Sero without sending him to other zoos that keeping more zebras. This is because I think the characteristics of zebras living in groups are ignored.

The aforementioned bear rescue group, Project Moon Bear pointed out that "the social composition of a wild zebra is not only just a couple" about the plan to introduce a new zebra, and feared that the situation would get worse if the new zebra did not get along well with Sero. So now, maybe we should hope that PMB's concerns don't become a reality.

In the end, unfortunately, this incident may show that the Korean zoo still has the outdated idea of having only one pair or just one animal, even if it is a social animal.

 

[dt644]

It's an unfortunate news. today, the local time in Korea On Oct. 24, it was reported that Seoul Children's Grand Park announced that Sero's mate Coco died on the 16th.

According to media reports, Coco has been treated since the 11th with symptoms of swelling in her abdomen and difficulty getting up, but has not improved.

Eventually, Coco's surgery was decided on the afternoon of the 15th, and he was transferred to a horse-specialized animal hospital in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do at dawn on the 16th, but she died shortly after arriving at the hospital. And an autopsy confirmed that Coco's cause of death was obstruction and necrosis small colon caused by colic.

Sero(left) and Coco(right)
August 25, 2023.
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Although I only saw her once, but I could confirm that Coco was doing well with Sero, and that was made the elements that me and some people's worried about previous were overshadowed. I pray for her repose and hope that Seoul Children's Grand Park will find and implement a more fundamental solution for Sero, who is alone again.