The short answer
California has no wild zebras, but you can see them in at least eleven places. Ten are visits: zoos and safari parks whose own sites list zebras today. One is a roadside view, the Hearst Ranch herd on Highway 1 near San Simeon. Animals move between zoos, so check a zoo's own site before you make the trip for one animal.
Southern California
- The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Palm Desert. Hartmann's mountain zebras in its African Safari area, the nearest of these to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree.
- San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Escondido. Grevy's zebras on the savanna, seen from the Africa Tram, a guided open-air ride of about 2.5 miles around the park's savanna habitats.
- San Diego Zoo, in Balboa Park. Grevy's zebras, the largest of the three zebra species and an endangered one, in the Northern Frontier area.
- Los Angeles Zoo. Grevy's zebras in the Animals of the Drylands section, where a foal was born in 2026, the zoo's first since 2019.
Northern California
- San Francisco Zoo and Gardens. Grant's zebras, a kind of plains zebra, in its African Savanna.
- Oakland Zoo. Grant's zebras in its African Savanna.
- Sacramento Zoo. Grevy's zebras, part of the zoo world's breeding program for the species.
- Safari West, Santa Rosa. Two kinds of plains zebra, Damara and Grant's, seen from an open-air vehicle on a guided safari drive.
- Monterey Zoo, Salinas. Damara and Grant's zebras in a 5 acre habitat they share with rhinos, wildebeest and water buffalo.
- B. Bryan Preserve, Point Arena, in Mendocino County. Hartmann's mountain zebras and Grevy's zebras, seen on guided tours by reservation.
The Hearst Ranch zebras on Highway 1
One herd you can see without a ticket grazes on the Hearst Ranch, along Highway 1 near San Simeon on the Central Coast. California State Parks, which runs Hearst Castle, says they can be seen in the pastures beside the highway, especially in warm weather. They descend from the private zoo William Randolph Hearst kept on the estate, where zebras were among about fifty kinds of grazing animals in fenced pastures. The zoo was taken apart from 1937 on, but zebras remained on the ranch.
It is a roadside view, and not a sure one: the herd is not always in sight. The zebras belong to the ranch, which is private land, so look from the road and never approach them. If you want to stop, pull fully off the highway where it is safe and legal, and watch the traffic.
Can you pet a zebra?
No, and it is best not to try. Zebras have never been domesticated, though people have tried for two centuries, and the Smithsonian's National Zoo counts their untamable wild nature among the things that set them apart. A zebra can bite and kick, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says its kick can seriously injure a predator. Safari West tells its guests plainly that its animals are not to be touched.
Riding one is out of the question too. Zebras were never domesticated, and a UC Davis study found them far warier of people than horses are.
Meet Rubs, the zebra in Morongo Valley
Rubs is the one zebra at Kaleidoscope Desert, our nonprofit art and animal sanctuary in Morongo Valley, 15 minutes from the town of Joshua Tree and 20 minutes from Palm Springs. He was rescued from a hunting safari park in Texas. When he was about a year old, videos of a man riding him around a pen spread online, and people all over the country reached out to us asking for help.
He has no other zebra here, so the mini horses and mini donkeys are his herd. He shares his hay with them, and the little group moves around the grounds together, among more than 100 rescued animals that roam free among the art.
You meet him on the Sanctuary Tour, a guided walk of about 90 minutes that runs daily, with someone who knows every resident by name. Rubs is admired from the ground, on his own terms, and like every animal here he comes over when he wants to. The Day Pass, 12 to 6 PM, adds a Gamelatron session, the pool and the hot tub to the tour. Every visit is for adults, 18 and over.
100% of proceeds go to the animals: their rescue, their care, and the sanctuary they live in. Kaleidoscope Desert Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.