A truck hauling zebras and camels for a series of weekend circus performances caught fire early Saturday on a northeastern Indiana highway, prompting a police rescue of the animals, which roamed along the freeway, some munching on grass. The tractor-trailer caught fire about 2am along Interstate 69 in Grant County, the AP reports. A state trooper, a Grant County Sheriff's deputy, and a third person rescued the five zebras, four camels and a miniature horse by leading them off the smoked-filled trailer, said Sgt. Steven Glass with Indiana State Police.
Both officers were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and later released. None of the animals were injured, Glass said. The truck driver, a 57-year-old man from Sarasota, Florida, was not injured. All northbound lanes of I-69 were closed until about 6:30am while the area was cleaned up and the animals were taken away by another truck. The Grant County Sheriff's Office posted photos and videos on Facebook of camels walking on the highway and later standing along its shoulder and its median with zebras and law enforcement officers. The posting included the message, "No harm to our furry friends."
One video shows zebras munching on grass in a surreal scene several miles east of the city of Marion, located about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis, per the AP. "It's not something we see every day," said Deputy Brent Ressett of the Grant County Sheriff's Office. The truck was bringing the animals from Florida to Fort Wayne for weekend circus performances in the northeastern Indiana city benefitting the Mizpah Shrine Circus, said Steve Trump, its circus director. He said the truck's crew stopped along the highway to check a problem with the vehicle and discovered a fire that quickly spread. The fire destroyed the truck and a second truck was sent from Fort Wayne to pick up the animals, he said.
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