Sero started refusing to eat the apples and carrots that he once loved after his parents died. He also began quarreling with the kangaroos living in the next enclosure, the officials said in a video.

Sero escaped from his enclosure Thursday afternoon, breaking through the wooden fences surrounding his pen, according to South Korea’s semiofficial Yonhap News Agency.

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After his escape, Sero walked around the busy streets of Seoul, a densely populated city of about 10 million, to the shock of witnesses. One shopkeeper in Seoul said it had felt as if he was watching a wildlife documentary, Yonhap reported. A driver said the zebra had popped into the road out of nowhere before bumping into his vehicle.

Right before his capture, Sero was trotting back and forth on a narrow street lined with multifamily brick homes, according to video footage.

Sero was first reported missing by the zoo about 2:43 p.m. local time. Firefighters located him about three-quarters of a mile from his enclosure, according to the Gwangjin Fire Station. He was found near a bicycle that firefighters suspect he had broken.

Firefighters then blocked the entrances leading into the alleyway so Sero would not return to the busy streets of Seoul, potentially endangering himself and pedestrians.

Sero was sedated and captured three hours later, about 6 p.m., firefighters said. No people were hurt during his escapade.

Sero is healthy and is now back in his enclosure, said Choi Ye-ra, a zoo official. She said the zoo is reviewing camera footage and investigating what led to his breakout.

Zebras live up to 20 years in the wild and up to 40 years in captivity, according to the African Wildlife Foundation, a conservationist group based in Nairobi.