{"id":570568,"date":"2026-03-30T10:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T10:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570568\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T10:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T10:51:24","slug":"escaped-capybara-largest-rodent-in-world-becomes-social-media-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/570568\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaped capybara, largest rodent in world, becomes social media sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>She\u2019s a free woman \u2014 and loving life!<\/p>\n<p>A female capybara that has been missing for nearly two weeks has become a social media sensation.<\/p>\n<p>Nine-month-old Samba escaped from England\u2019s Marwell Zoo on March 16, and although she\u2019s been reportedly spotted frequenting a pub and sunbathing on a riverbank, she\u2019s still managed to evade capture.<\/p>\n<p>Nine-month-old Samba escaped from England\u2019s Marwell Zoo on March 16. Facebook\/AFC Totton in the Community<\/p>\n<p>AI photos on social media show the rodent enjoying local activities.   facebook\/mercuryyachtharbour<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the animal\u2019s shenanigans, fans have created <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salisburyjournal.co.uk\/news\/25966511.favourite-fake-spottings-samba-marwell-zoo-capybara\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI-generated images<\/a> on social media of the critter engaged in different local activities, like shopping at the mall, getting pampered at a hair salon and enjoying a soccer game.<\/p>\n<p>The search for Samba is so intense that a team of dogs and drones have been dispatched to help find the brazen capybara, whose species \u2014 the largest rodents in the world and known for being fast runners, reaching speeds of up to\u00a022 mph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have deployed search teams including the use of specialist dog units used to track her scent, and thermal drones,\u201d Laura Read, chief executive at the zoo, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/28\/samba-runaway-capybara-search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">told The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Samba and her sister, Tango, escaped through a hole in their temporary enclosure. facebook\/Fisherspondeastleigh<\/p>\n<p>Less than 24 hours after Samba arrived at the Hampshire zoo with its sibling Tango, the pair both made a run for it through a hole in their temporary enclosure.<\/p>\n<p>Tango was quickly found, but Samba is still on the loose.<\/p>\n<p>The zoo is in a rush to find the creature because it\u2019s worried about the separation of the infant sisters.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Two days after she escaped, Samba was reportedly spotted at a beer garden called Ship Inn in Owslebury, about two miles from the zoo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been proper crazy,\u201d Emma Smith, manager of the Ship Inn Smith told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a little village, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samba was also filmed sunbathing on the banks of River Itchen and then going in for a dip by a woman walking her dogs in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was bonkers,\u201d the dog walker, Claudie Paddick, told the outlet. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what a capybara was.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She\u2019s a free woman \u2014 and loving life! A female capybara that has been missing for nearly two&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2837,49,48,588,219498,73021,66,1942,323,883,61300],"class_list":{"0":"post-570568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-escapes","13":"tag-rodents","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-social-media","16":"tag-wildlife","17":"tag-world-news","18":"tag-zoos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}