A heartbroken zebra escaped a South Korean zoo in a bold bid for freedom on Thursday, tromping through the narrow streets of Seoul as residents looked on in amazement. Sero, named in Korean for his vertical stripes, busted out of a wooden cage surrounding his enclosure and then hit the town, galloping down alleyways and even into traffic. He roamed free for around three hours as cops, firefighters, and zoo employees followed in hot pursuit, eventually taking him down with a tranquilizer dart. Zookeepers think Sero’s erratic behavior may have stemmed from some recent personal tragedy. The three-year-old lost both of his parents in the last two years, becoming increasingly lonely and receiving little support from an unfriendly kangaroo next door to his enclosure. But hope springs eternal—zookeepers say they’re planning to set Sero up with a girlfriend from a nearby zoo within the next year.