{"id":490863,"date":"2026-03-23T12:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/490863\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T12:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:13:14","slug":"search-narrowed-down-for-fugitive-capybara-as-marwell-zoo-deploys-specialist-dog-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/490863\/","title":{"rendered":"Search narrowed down for fugitive capybara as Marwell zoo deploys specialist dog teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Search teams are combing water meadows near Twyford after fugitive capybara Samba was spotted in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Marwell Zoo said on Sunday afternoon that it had received a video of the 9-month-old in a waterway between Twyford and the Brambridge Garden centre, around three miles from the wildlife park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">In a statement, Marwell Zoo said: &#8220;Unfortunately, we have not retrieved Samba yet<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;Yesterday we did have a positive sighting and video from a family on a farm, and we responded immediately with our team searching the area. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;We were unsuccessful and have had thermal drones out again last night and this morning<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;The search continues.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">On Sunday, Claudie Paddick spotted the capybara by the side of the River Itchen, near Winchester. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Samba <a class=\"qNUzV q7LZa\" data-testid=\"next-link-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/meridian\/2026-03-19\/marwell-zoo-asks-public-for-help-to-find-escaped-capybara\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">went missing on Tuesday <\/a>after she escaped the temporary enclosure she shared with her sister Tango. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Tango was re-captured within the zoo grounds, but Samba has evaded capture, despite sightings outside the Ship Inn in Owslebury on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Since then, sniffer dogs and drone operators have been out trying to track the missing rodent, who is the size of a small badger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Capybaras are intelligent, gentle animals, which do not pose a risk to the public, according to the zoo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">They are herbivores, originating from South America, akin to a giant guinea pig.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">They like hiding in long grass and water, and are more active at night, which makes the search more problematic. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">In a post on their Facebook page, the zoo said:<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;Update 13:03pm &#8211; our team has received a video of Samba in the waterway between Twyford and Brambridge Garden Centre. We have acted immediately, and teams are now in the area searching for her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;We urgently need your help as we continue to investigate. If you are nearby and believe you\u2019ve seen Samba, please send a photo and exact location to 07436 167401.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;Please do not approach Samba.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;Thank you for your continued support with this ongoing situation, we hope to bring Samba home safely very soon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below&#8230;<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Search teams are combing water meadows near Twyford after fugitive capybara Samba was spotted in the area. Marwell&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-490863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}