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Zebra runs amok in Japanese golf course, dies in lake

An animal doctor uses a tranquilizer dart to capture an zebra on a golf course in Toki, Gifu prefecture, central Japan Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The zebra that was on the loose on a Japanese golf course for hours has died after it was chased around by a dozen men including police officers, likely drowning after being shot by tranquilizer dart and plunging into a lake. (Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP)  JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
An animal doctor uses a tranquilizer dart to capture an zebra on a golf course in Toki, Gifu prefecture, central Japan Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The zebra that was on the loose on a Japanese golf course for hours has died after it was chased around by a dozen men including police officers, likely drowning after being shot by tranquilizer dart and plunging into a lake. (Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT An animal doctor uses a tranquilizer dart to capture an zebra on a golf course in Toki, Gifu prefecture, central Japan Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The zebra that was on the loose on a Japanese golf course for hours has died after it was chased around by a dozen men including police officers, likely drowning after being shot by tranquilizer dart and plunging into a lake. (Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

TOKYO (AP) – A zebra that was on the loose on a Japanese golf course for hours has died after it was chased around by a dozen men including police officers, likely drowning after being shot by tranquilizer dart and plunging into a lake.

Police say the 2-year-old male zebra escaped late Tuesday from a horseback riding club. It had belonged to a farm in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

By Wednesday morning, it had wandered onto a nearby golf course in Gifu Prefecture, with TV news footage showing it zipping from hole to hole.

People were chasing the animal around the golf course, some holding lassos, trying to capture it, but with little luck. The animal would let them get close, then would dash off when they tried to rein it in.

It was shot with a tranquilizer dart, but then ran into a lake.