‘Zeta the Zebra’ arrived at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC) when she was only one week old. She had been found on Kapama Game Reserve by the anti-poaching unit, caught in a snare.

The baby zebra had been abandoned by her dazzle (herd) as they were unable to help her. The anti-poaching unit managed to free her from the snare and brought her to us.
Zeta’s surrogate mother was a sheep named Heidi, while the curators played a major role in feeding and taking care of her.

After a while Zeta was introduced to Skaap, another surrogate sheep. Zeta and Skaap took an instant liking to each other and became good friends. The two became inseparable and Zeta was very protective of Skaap. If anyone and anything physically came between the two animals, Zeta would just throw a hard kick at it. One such incident included a safari vehicle moving in between her and Skaap. She gave it one mighty kick! It was a hilarious sight to behold, and thank goodness she didn’t injure herself.

A while ago we moved Zeta to one of the bigger enclosures, together with the ostriches and rhino cows.
As she is now fully grown, we thought it would be good for her to have some male company and we started looking for a companion for her. We found a suitable mate, and the male zebra was brought in on 18 April 2016. The two seemed to get along quite well and were seen grazing together in no time.
We hope that the two will produce some offspring in the near future, as there’s no doubt Zeta will be an excellent mother!