A Runaway Capybara Is Evading Capture and ‘Living Her Best Life’ in England

An adventurous capybara named Cinnamon escaped from her enclosure at Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World in Telford, England, on Friday last week. The large rodent’s disappearance sparked a coordinated search, with teams working around the clock to find her. With help from drone footage, they spotted Cinnamon on Tuesday, chomping on grass in a field just 200 meters away from her home.

And yet, recapturing her is not as easy as it might seem.

“Unfortunately, this area is extremely dense with almost impenetrable undergrowth that Cinnamon can easily move under, but we cannot,” Hoo Zoo writes in a Facebook post.

Before the drone sighting, the capybara had last been seen on Saturday, beyond the perimeter fence of the zoo. By Tuesday, Will Dorrell, the zoo owner, speculated that Cinnamon had likely reached the zoo’s northern edge, around the Humber Brook river, where “she’s probably living her best life,” he told BBC News’ Eleanor Lawson and Adam Green.

The searches revealed fresh tracks and capybara poop, which suggested Cinnamon was alive and thriving. On Tuesday night, thermal drones identified the capybara in a field beside the zoo. She appeared in drone footage again on Wednesday, about five meters from the same spot.

“At present she is comfortable, content, not short on food and not at risk to predators,” the zoo writes in the post.

Cinnamon hasn’t been the only animal to escape from a zoo enclosure this month. In Reynosa, Mexico, near the U.S. border, a Bengal tiger was on the run for about a week until it was recaptured by Mexican officials. The tiger was caught without harm by using a trap. For the people behind both the tiger and Cinnamon’s recapture efforts, the safety and well-being of the animals is of great importance.

The Hoo Zoo has been in “lengthy discussions” with wildlife capture professionals, per the post, and was worried that if the team stressed Cinnamon too much as part of the recapture, she might move into a more dangerous area. For instance, the zoo shared concern about the “beloved” capybara moving into a nearby area that belongs to the Ministry of Defense. “If she moves into that area, we may not be able to retrieve her,” per the post.

The recapture team has tried to lure her in without resorting to using nets, which can be stressful for the animal, Dorrell tells the Guardian’s Jamie Grierson. They played capybara sounds that weren’t very successful and used smells from the other capybaras at the zoo in an attempt to draw her into a live trap—a cage with an automatic door.

Presently, Cinnamon is one of four capybaras living at Hoo Zoo, along with her parents, Chimu and Chincha, and her twin brother, Churro, reports ABC News’ Emma Ogao.

Cinnamon escaped from her enclosure when the keepers went in to mow the paddock, Dorrell tells BBC News. Hidden in the tall grass near the gate, she seized the opportunity when the gate was opened and darted around the side of a tractor, making her way out.

“Our two young capybara here are always trying to work out a different way of trying to cause us headaches,” Dorrell tells BBC News. “They’re extremely intelligent, which a lot of people might not necessarily appreciate.”

Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents. Affectionately called ‘capys,’ they are semi-aquatic animals that live near swimming holes in Central and South American riverbanks. They live in small groups to keep watch for predators such as jaguars. The species is currently threatened by deforestation, habitat destruction and poaching, though its numbers are stable.

For now, the zoo will pause the capybara’s recapture efforts until Friday night, unless the situation changes, according to the Facebook post. And at the moment, the zoo adds, Cinnamon is “extremely comfortable and happy in that area.”

Alexa Robles-Gil | | READ MORE

Alexa Robles-Gil is a bilingual science journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Undark, Inside Climate News and more.