A zebra wandered the streets of Seoul for three hours after escaping from a zoo in the South Korean capital on Thursday.

Bemused pedestrians looked on as the beast trotted past cars, wandered down a street and poked its nose in garbage bins, footage showed.

The zebra, named Sero, which means vertical in Korean, had broken free from a zoo at the Seoul Children's Grand Park.

Officials managed to trap the zebra and give it anaesthetic muscle relaxants, Seoul Gwangjin Fire Station said. It was taken back to the zoo on the back of a pick-up truck, footage showed.

Video clips of Sero's day out went viral on social media.

"Literally a zebra crossing" one tweet read. 

Reuters