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A missing capybara has been spotted in the wild after escaping her zoo enclosure five days ago.
The Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World, located on the outskirts of Telford in Shropshire, said its “beloved capybara” called Cinnamon escaped from her habitat and entered the woodlands within the zoo’s premises on Friday.
Cinnamon, whose species is considered the world’s largest rodent, was sighted on Saturday evening on a “nearby road” after she managed to cross the zoo’s perimeter fence, the family-run zoo said in a statement on Facebook.
She was then not seen for three days – before a drone captured her just 200 metres from her enclosure in a mass search on Tuesday evening.
Now, the zoo is preparing to return the giant rodent to her family. Zoo owner Will Dorrell told MailOnline: “We're hoping that we will have her back here soon. We've got a group of dedicated keepers who have been working all through the night.”
He previously believed Cinnamon was “probably living her best life” at the Humber Brook river.
Zoo staff are hoping to return to the location where she was seen on Tuesday to safely capture her and bring her home.
Mr Dorrell said: “We've got live traps out for her which are cages that if she walks into it will shut behind, so hopefully we can bring her back with the least amount of stress and as quickly as possible.”
Capybaras are the largest rodent species in the world, and they look like giant guinea pigs. They live in savannas and dense forests near bodies of water. They are a social species, usually found in groups of a dozen or so, and sometimes up to 100.
Capybaras became quite popular last year after their nonchalant nature captured millions of hearts on the internet, leading to an outpouring of memes and TikToks.
