CAMBRIA, Calif., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A California rancher says he shot two zebras that escaped from the Hearst Ranch because they were spooking his horses.
One of Dave Fiscalini's neighbors in Cambria shot the third zebra last week, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Many other residents were upset by the killings. Fiscalini called a taxidermist about preserving one zebra's hide.
"He wants to make a rug," said Rosemary Anderson, the taxidermist's wife, told the Times. "You can't believe the controversy".
Eleanor Seavey, who runs a bed and breakfast in Cambria said the zebras were popular with tourists, who would stop for pictures whenever the animals were visible.
"They're such beautiful animals -- why would anyone kill them?" she asked.
Stephen Hearst, great-grandson of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Heast, said the 65 zebras now at the ranch are descended from ones brought there by his great-grandfather. W.R. Hearst built a castle, San Simeon, and assembled what was then the world's largest private zoo, although most of its 300 animals were sold in the 1930s.
Hearst said he could not understand why Fiscalini did not make a telephone call about the loose zebras.
"Was the threat so imminent that his first thought was to make a rug out of them? It's just a shame, and it's a little bit rude in my book," he said. "You know, neighbors are supposed to help other neighbors". UPI
