Ranchers Shoot Hearst Castle Zebras

Hasty California ranchers shot dead three Hearst Castle zebras who strayed onto their property, and neighbors are aghast. The zebras—a buck, a mare and yearling—were part of a herd that roams castle grounds, the remnants of what was at one time the largest private zoo in the world, owned by the late publishing magnate William Randolf Hearst. Two of the zebras were "spooking my horses," said rancher David Fiscalini, who blasted the animals with a shotgun, then called a taxidermist to skin one of the zebras for a rug.

“It breaks my heart to see it killed, because it’s wanton waste,” said the taxidermist's wife. “It’s very sad that it wasn’t handled in a different manner." Hearst's great-grandson Stephen said he was shocked by the shootings. The zebras wander from "time to time, but neighbors give us a call and we retrieve them," he told the Los Angeles Times.
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