Trail cameras - or camera traps, as they're sometimes called - are very handy gadgets if you want to record passing wildlife, day or night. Gone is the need to physically park yourself in a hide, waiting in silence for hours on end for the creature you're stalking to hopefully break cover. And heaven forbid nature should call in a less photogenic form while you're holed up...
In the UK, trail cams are usually used to record passing deer, foxes or badgers, but recently they've been employed in the hope of recording a runaway capybara. Yes, the world's largest rodent, native to South America, has become a surprising attraction in recent years in the UK, with examples being included in zoos and wildlife parks across the country.
However two of these overgrown guinea pigs have tried to make a break for freedom, escaping from Marwell Zoo near Winchester in southern England. Named Tango and Samba, the daring duo escaped only a day after arriving at Marwell, having just been transferred from a wildlife park in eastern England. Tango was swiftly recaptured, but Samba's escape effort has been far more accomplished and the 9-month old capybara has been missing since March 17th. By now the rodent could well be half way across the South Atlantic en route to Peru, but working under the assumption that Samba may not be homesick and is still happily exploring Britain's verdant countryside, various methods of capture have been employed by the zoo.
Drones equipped with thermal cameras have been flown over villages near the zoo after local residents spotted Samba, and even a sniffer dog has been enlisted, but evidently it was no match for Samba's cunning. So with the trail getting colder, trail cameras are being used to try and record this expert escapologist. However, even this method isn't quite going to plan, as it's been reported that two of the trail cams have been stolen. But stolen by who, or what? It's a whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie, but could it be that the last images recorded by each camera were of a capybara's face filling the frame, right before the signal abruptly cut out and the cameras were never to be seen again...
