A capybara that escaped from its enclosure has been recaptured, a zoo in Shropshire has said.
The animal, named Cinnamon, escaped from Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World, a small family-run zoo near Telford, almost a week ago.
The one-year-old female got out of her pen and fled the zoo on Saturday, prompting the zoo to ask the public for help as it organised “a week of extensive searches throughout both day and night”.
Her freedom came to an end on Friday afternoon, when “a team of over a dozen experts managed to capture her,” the zoo said.
She hadn’t gone far, as she was found after being seen in a pond within the zoo’s woodland conservation area, Hoo Zoo said.
A video posted on social media showed five staff bringing the giant rodent out of the pond in a cage.
Cinnamon, the post added, has been returned to an enclosure with her twin brother, Churro, and is acclimatising to life back at the zoo.
Expert keepers “will continue to monitor her around the clock” to ensure a seamless transition back to family life.
Cinnamon will remain “off show to the public this weekend”, the zoo said, as she re-familiarises herself with her usual surroundings.
Zoo owner Will Dorrell said: “We’ve been astounded at the public reaction to Cinnamon’s escape and are so grateful to everybody who has helped to return her safely to the zoo.”
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Visitors will have to wait until next week to see her again, he said. “All being well”, she’ll soon be back in “her usual paddock with the rest of her family”, he added.
On Wednesday, the zoo said Cinnamon had been spotted thanks to a thermal-imaging drone used during a night-time search – but she had found an area of “almost impenetrable undergrowth” inaccessible to humans, where she was “extremely comfortable and happy”.
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Capybaras are the largest rodents in the world and Cinnamon is roughly as big as a large spaniel.
The highly social animals typically live in groups of 10-20, usually near bodies of water in savannahs and dense forests, feeding on aquatic plants, grasses, and other plentiful plants, National Geographic said on its website.
They are native to South America and are a favourite food of large snakes such as boa constrictors, pumas, caimans, and birds of prey, especially when young.
