OXFORD, Ga. -- A zebra named Barcode has been returned unharmed to its owner after someone placed it in a building on the Emory University at Oxford campus in Newton County as a prank Wednesday.

The animal's owner, Curtis Jackson, 63, didn't even know the 800-pound animal was missing until animal control officers returned Barcode to his home about a mile from campus Wednesday morning.

Public safety workers said they weren't shocked when they opened the Seney Hall building around 7 a.m. and saw Barcode. They said students putting animals inside the Seney Hall building has been done as a prank for decades.

Dean Stephen Bowen said he can recall at least one cow left there in the 1960s.

He said it's unlikely the person responsible will be punished. As he puts it, "We're not launching a major manhunt."