A family zoo have said they are pausing their recapture efforts for fugitive capybara Cinnamon who has ‘captured the hearts’ of animal lovers around the world.
Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World’s ‘beloved’ capybara, considered the world’s largest rodent, escaped from her enclosure in Telford, Shropshire, on Friday.
A mass search on Tuesday evening yielded results as the huge rodent was located but not retrieved just 200metres from her enclosure via a drone.
But after finding plenty of fresh tracks and Capybara faeces in the area’s undergrowth, the zoo decided to call off the search this morning as the creature is ‘extremely comfortable and happy in that area’.
However the search will resume on Friday night, the zoo said.
A younger Cinnamon pictured at Hoo Zoo, where she lives with her parents and brother
A capybara missing from a Shropshire zoo has been spotted from a drone
In a statement, Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World said: ‘Last night our keepers were again working through the night to try and recapture Cinnamon. She was spotted again by a thermal drone within 5 metres of the same location from Tuesday night.
‘Unfortunately this area is extremely dense with almost impenetrable undergrowth that Cinnamon can easily move under but we cannot.
‘During our searches we found plenty of fresh tracks and Capybara poo and it looks like Cinnamon is extremely comfortable and happy in that area.
‘Due to this we’ve taken the decision to pause recapture efforts for the time being and will resume on Friday night.
‘We have been in lengthy discussions with wildlife capture professionals and all of us are concerned that continued disturbance of where Cinnamon is living could cause her to relocate to an area that could be dangerous.
‘We are also bordered by the MOD and there are concerns that if she moves into that area we may not be able to retrieve her.’
The zoo say Cinanamon is currently ‘comfortable, content, not short on food and not at risk to predators’.
With that in mind, staff members wants to take their time and recapture the animal with the ‘least amount of stress possible’.
Multiple live traps have been placed in the area and the zoo says it will be checking these multiple times a day.
However, mass searches will not being taking place until Friday night.
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