
A runaway zebra led police on a dramatic chase across a golf course in Japan before it fell into a pond and died.

The animal had escaped from the Mikuni West Farm in Aichi, eastern Japan, on Tuesday and police officers chased it across the fairway in a pursuit, which was broadcast live on TV.

The police were trying to capture the zebra alive but were unsuccessful in cornering it in order to capture it.

A zebra escaped from Mikuni West Farm in Aichi, eastern Japan, on Tuesday and led police on a chase across a golf course

Officers and vets were pictured chasing the animal across the fairways but were unable to corner it and capture it alive

Vets then shot it with a tranquilser dart, only to watch as it plunged into a small lake on the golf course.

However, as they rushed to rescue the zebra from the water, they realised it had already died.

Takahiro Taniguchi, a police spokesman in central Gifu, said: 'It collapsed in the pond, so we hurriedly pulled it ashore, but its heart had stopped beating.'

He added that vets then performed cardiac massage but explained it was not enough to prevent the 'bitter aftertaste' of the animal's demise.

In the end, one of the vets decided to shoot the zebra with a tranquiliser dart in a bid to subdue it so it could be captured alive

However, after the zebra was tranquilised, it fell into a small lake on the golf course and struggled to get out due the effects of the dart

The failed attempt to recapture the creature came just a month after a Tokyo zoo held a drill practising the event of an animal escaping.

Every year, a zookeeper dresses as an animal and stages an escape, giving colleagues the opportunity to hone their techniques.

This year's creature was a zebra, which was successfully collared and returned to its pen.

Vets and the police worked quickly to pull the animal up, out of the water and on to dry land again for treatment

One vet tried to give the animal cardiac massage after its heart stopped beating, but they were unable to save it and it died

But as if to prove that practice doesn't always make perfect, this week's real life response didn't quite go to plan.

According to Ueno Zoo, which staged the zebra escape drill last month, the animals are easily panicked.

Meanwhile in 2012 a penguin on the run from a Tokyo aquarium outwitted authorities for 82 days before being caught.