It began as the light-hearted and amusing story of the day — an escaped zebra running around a Japanese golf course, out-foxing its would-be captors.

But the animal's bid for freedom ended when it drowned in a golf course lake, while ill-equipped rescuers stood and stared.

It had escaped from a nearby equestrian centre and was on the run until police received an emergency call.

The news of the flight-footed zebra was broadcast on TV channels across the country and aerial footage via helicopter brought updates.

Hapless police officers lined up across a fairway, hoping somehow to convince the 200 kilogram, two-year-old male zebra to turn itself in.

The zebra burst through the police "cordon" and galloped on.

After five hours a vet from a nearby town was called in with a tranquiliser gun.

After the zebra was hit by the tranquiliser dart, it plunged into a golf course lake.

The ill-prepared rescuers did not have the strength to pull the zebra out in time before the animal drowned.

"We pulled it out but its heart had stopped," police spokesman Takahiro Taniguchi said.

Japanese Twitter users expressed anger and sadness in response to the news.

"I think it was a failure of the people chasing, but they don't write that as the cause of death, they just write 'dead'," user Suki Shima said.

"This was a sloppy job by Japan … they were just standing and watching until it drowned and died in the lake," tweeted Devi, a TV celebrity.

The zebra was owned by the operator of a mobile zoo.