let’s not be intentionally naive here; petting zoos sometimes have exotic animals (like zebras) but mostly contain animals like donkeys, sheep, toy ponies, etc. There are many places to take a stance on animal care and rights, as well as things to criticize involving this incident, but petting zoos are a weird hill to die on regarding this matter. You should consider bringing your children to one soon if you have any, they’re a little smelly (mainly because they’re usually adjacent/close to a farm), but pretty fun, especially if the people running it are educated.

For the record, zebras are some of last animals you'd expect to see in a petting zoo. They are actively unfriendly. The San Diego Zoo lets you interact with rhinos and cheetahs more than zebras.