Prince George's Co. Owner Behind 2001 Escaped Zebras Must Surrender All Animals: Official

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Exotic wildlife seller Jerry Lee Holly, 78, of Upper Marlboro has agreed to surrender all of his animals as part of agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture. Holly owned numerous zebras that escaped two years ago and roamed free for months around Prince George's County.

The agreement means that all Animal Welfare Act violations the agriculture department discovered at Holly's Maryland facility have been settled. Holly was found not guilty of animal cruelty charges earlier this year.

"Jerry L Holly agrees to sell, donate and/or transfer ownership and possession of any regulated animals on his premises, regardless of ownership, with in 12 weeks," the settlement agreement reads.

The document is signed and dated Nov. 22, 2023. Holly also is required to pay $15,000 as a settlement that was due Nov. 24.

Two zebras were captured and returned, but a third died after being caught in a snare just feet from an enclosure where Holly kept his herd of 39 zebras, according to police reports. Snare traps are illegal in Prince George’s County. It was discovered about three weeks after the zebras broke free by a Girl Scouts forest groundskeeper.

They were part of a herd of 39 zebras Holly surreptitiously moved to his Bellefields estate from Florida in the middle of the night in 2021. He didn’t obtain the permits Prince George’s County officials require for people who want to keep exotics, authorities have said. The escape of the zebras wasn’t reported until a few days later, when neighbors started reported seeing them in their yards.

“The animal should have been seen or heard while it was dying from being caught in the snare if the caretaker had attended to the zebras in the fenced enclosure, and most likely died of dehydration after a period of a few days struggling in the trap,” investigators wrote.

Prosecutors say the investigator believes the trapped zebra likely died from dehydration after trying to free itself from the trap. By the time the animal was discovered by Maryland Natural Resources police, the zebra's body was completely decomposed, WJZ reported, so a cause of death could not be determined.

Holly had been charged with three misdemeanor animal cruelty charge, one of each of the animals that broke free from his Upper Marlboro farm in August 2021. Prosecutors say Holly did not provide proper care and sustenance to his zebras, according to charging documents. An investigator with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said in charging documents that "the animal should have been seen or heard while it was dying from being caught in the snare if the caretaker had attended to the zebras in the fenced enclosure."

The farm has long been on animal welfare experts’ radar. Holly, 78, has been to trial at least six times now on criminal charges related to his animals, and was found guilty in all but one of the trials, The Washington Post reported, citing court records.