AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
While many DC reporters are focused on the White House or Capitol Hill, news of a different stripe has been grabbing attention.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Five zebras are on the loose in the D.C. suburbs in Prince George's County, Md.
CORNISH: The dazzle - that's what you call a group of zebras, by the way - were owned legally and escaped from a farm in the area. And for the last month, they've been dazzling residents with surprise sightings.
DAVON BENNETT: I look over. I see, like, three zebras right here. And I'm like, are my eyes playing tricks on me? Do I have my glasses off?
CORNISH: That's Davon Bennett talking to local Fox 5 after the zebras showed up in his backyard.
FADEL: They've been seen running across roads and bounding out of woods.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KEITH TURNER: Got a video this morning of the zebras. Them bad boys ran right across the street.
FADEL: Keith Turner caught a cameo on his phone.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TURNER: I'm getting kind of close to them. They running. They running. They running.
CORNISH: County animal services - well, they're aware of the situation. But catching a zebra is tricky. I mean, they spook easily.
FADEL: As for who might have helped the zebras escape?
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: Hands up - I didn't do it.
FADEL: D.C.'s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has been jokingly accused. She's been very anti-fence, wanting to remove barriers put up around D.C. after the January 6 attacks. And while she swears she didn't do it, Norton thinks maybe she inspired them.
HOLMES NORTON: And they said, look; if she can get those fences down, we don't want to be fenced in either.
CORNISH: For Norton and many others in D.C., the zebras have become a metaphor for D.C. statehood.
HOLMES NORTON: I represent a city where there is no consent of the governed. And the zebras say, guess what? There's no consent to keep us caged in, either.
CORNISH: You hear that, America? Norton says Washington, D.C., is ready to be a state. Just ask the zebras - that's if they ever get caught.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T FENCE ME IN")
BING CROSBY AND THE ANDREWS SISTERS: (Singing) Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.