Teams searching for the missing capybara from Marwell Zoo say they’ve got humane badger traps ready to deploy once the search narrows.
Samba has been missing for more than two weeks after escaping from the Hampshire park.
The mischievous animal had only arrived at Marwell, along with another female capybara, named Tango, on Monday 16 March from Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, in Suffolk.
Samba and Tango were being held in a temporary holding area, where they both managed to escape the following day.
Zookeepers were able to quickly locate and retrieve Tango, but Samba evaded capture.
She was last seen near the River Itchen on 22 March.
Capybaras Samba and Tango when they arrived at the wildlife park. Credit: Marwell Zoo
Since Samba escaped teams from Marwell have used drones, thermal imaging and a 24/7 hotline in the search.
A spokesperson from Marwell said: “Our continued message to the public is that if they are in the local area and spot Samba to make sure they:
1. Take a photo / video of her so we can make sure it’s her (we’ve had a lot of messages and calls to our hotline, but most are either location wise too far away, or they are images of muntjak deer)
2. Call or message our hotline as soon as possible with a precise location. 07436167401
3. Don’t attempt to get near to Samba or to try and catch her – to leave this up to our specialist animal teams as we do not want to scare her off
“We continue to work with a specialist dog unit who is tracing her scent, thermal drones and camera traps to narrow down the search area.
“We have humane badger traps on standby as well, which we’ll deploy once a narrower search area is identified and our team is on 24/7 alert to go in and retrieve her.”
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