Four zebras being transported to Montana escaped near Interstate 90 in North Bend, Washington, prompting a community-wide effort to corral them.

Three of the animals were subsequently captured but one remained on the loose as of Sunday night, according to King County Animal Control.

It’s unclear why the privately owned zebras were being driven to Montana.

The animals got loose when the driver stopped to secure the trailer near Exit 32 at around 1pm on Sunday, Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Rick Johnson said.

“This is a first for me and all WSP troopers involved. The community has come together to help,” Mr Johnson wrote on X.

According to the Seattle Times, Laura Fisher was driving at 70 mph on Interstate 90 with her son when they noticed the doors of a trailer up ahead flapping in the wind.

They initially assumed it was empty but soon spotted nervous zebras edging towards the trailer’s edge.

“Our main concern was that they were going to jump out of the trailer at 70 and probably die and cause a major issue for the other drivers,” she was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

A few videos shared on Citizen App — a mobile app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real-time and allows them to read updates about ongoing reports, broadcast live video, and leave comments — showed the zebras running in traffic, according to KOMO News.

It said the drivers on Interstate 90 had to hit the brakes when they spotted the zebras.

“One’s still on the loose, two are right down the street from me. We got zebras in April in North Bend,” a witness Whitney Blomquist was quoted as saying.

Ms Blomquist’s security camera’s motion sensor alerted her to unexpected wildlife activity in her side yard.

“They start walking up my driveway and they make their way over to one of my rentals,” she added. “I’ve had plenty of bears in my yard but this was a new one, for sure.”

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson said that “once we get the other one – I won’t say in custody – but back corralled, it is a feel-good story. We’ve got three out of the four safe right now.”

The King County Sheriff’s Office has also not been able to verify how the animals escaped.

Aiming to follow the footsteps of his brother Tua Tagovailoa, Taulia Tagovailoa will take his first crack at earning a contract on an NFL roster in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, Tagovailoa has accepted an invitation and will participate in rookie minicamp with the Seattle Seahawks next week. To this point, he and former San Jose State quarterback Chevon Cordeiro, who reportedly signed as an undrafted free agent on Saturday, are the only two quarterbacks that have been linked to the minicamp.

A unanimous four-star recruit coming out of Thompson High School in Hawaii, Tagovailoa initially joined his brother in Tuscaloosa as a backup quarterback at Alabama, completing nine out of 12 passes for 100 yards in limited action. Without an opportunity to play moving forward, he transferred to Maryland in 2020 and started four out of six games in a COVID-shortened season, earning Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors with 1,011 passing yards and seven touchdowns.

The fourth Utah Utes that came off of the board over the weekend hails from the offensive line in Sataoa Laumea.

He started 44-straight games, starting at right guard for two seasons before making the move to right tackle for the past two seasons. He earned All-Pac-12 honors each of the past two seasons and will provide a great sense of physicality for a line that needs help protecting Geno Smith. He was taken in the sixth round with the pick No. 179 overall.

The former four-star recruit out of California chose Utah over UCLA as a member of the 2019 class. He will be tough to replace on the line, but should have a chance to carve out a major role for himself in Seattle.