After Samba the capybara escaped from Marwell zoo in England, the hunt for the giant rodent has taken the UK by storm and captured the public imagination.
Samba and her sister Tango originally escaped from the Hampshire-based zoo on March 17th less than 24-hours after their initial arrival after being relocated.
Tango was quickly found but nine-month-old “adventurous” Samba remains on the run.
Confirmed sightings
There have been several confirmed sightings of the creature.
The first was in the village of Owslebury, when Samba walked past The Ship Inn during quiz night, but ran away after pubgoers tried to follow her.
Later, a dogwalker spotted Samba “sunbathing” on the banks of the River Itchen on March 22nd, before her dog’s barks spooked the gentle giant into diving into the river.
Claudie Paddick, the dogwalker who spotted and filmed the creature, initially believed it to be a deer.
“You don’t casually see a capybara on your walks,” she says, “I didn’t even know what a capybara was”.
After showing footage to family and friends who recognised Samba as the missing animal, Paddick alerted the zoo.
However, the capybara had already swam away before she could be captured.
The semi-aquatic creatures can stay underwater for several minutes at a time, making tracking Samba’s location particularly difficult.
“We have deployed search teams including the use of specialist dog units used to track her scent, and thermal drones,” said Marwell Wildlife CEO Laura Read.
Luckily, capybaras are native to South America and have no natural predators in the UK, therefore “we are not concerned in terms of her safety other than roads which we are really hoping she’s staying away from,” says Read.
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Viral reaction
The story has attracted national and even international media attention.
Emma Smith, manager of the local pub, called the coverage of the story “proper crazy,” saying Owslebury is “just a little village”.
Online, memes featuring the capybara including AI-generated images of Samba have gone viral.
Children at Twyford Primary School, near to where Samba went missing, have been walking the banks of the River Itchen in hopes of spotting the capybara.
In a statement, Marwell zoo strongly urges people to refrain from approaching Samba if they see her.
“Under no circumstances should a member of the public try to capture her by themselves,” the zoo added.
With Samba still at large, the zoo asks those who do see her to contact them immediately to arrange for her to be collected.
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