Cinnamon, the capybara missing for a week in the wilds, is “absolutely fine, other than a little bit tired,” her keepers have confirmed.
The giant rodent escaped from her enclosure at Hoo Zoo & Dinosaur World on Friday 13 September into nearby woodland in Telford, before being found in a pond.
Will Dorrell, joint owner of the park, said “keeper error” had led to her flee through an open gate after being startled by a mower.
“We think the tractor startled her and she dashed past and out the gate,” he said. “During the short period of time the gate was open, they hadn’t seen that Cinnamon was in the long grass.”
Mr Dorrell added she seemed “very happy to be back”.
Earlier in the week, he said “she was living her best life” because of the large woodland and ponds nearby.
‘Look for any tracks’
Joint owner Becky Dorrell told Today on BBC Radio 4 she herself had spent most of Friday “in our woodland… particularly the area that we first saw her in”.
“I was pretty confident she’d move from that area… and it was just a case of trying to look for any tracks or evidence of where she could have been,” she explained
Ms Dorrell said a power line had come down during a storm two weeks ago, leading to some trees being cut down.
“That led to the pond and a load of reeds, so I just kind of followed that and some tracks that [Cinnamon had] left and there she was,” she added.
Native to South America, can grow to more than a metre in length and are the largest living rodents in the world.
People worked for about an hour on Friday, during which time the team “slowly herded her into a spot where we could put the cage that we had and [we] just sort of coaxed her in”.
Hoo Zoo & Dinosaur World said she was now back with her brother and later on Saturday would be reunited with her parents, once it had had a vet come and check her over.
Because capybara are non-native, Mr Dorrell stressed they had a responsibility to make sure it was not left roaming the British countryside.
‘Film in the offing?’
The wildlife park said it had conducted a review and put new steps in place to stop further escapes.
But the best thing for her long term was to be back, because staff could monitor her health, Mr Dorrell said.
Asked if the site would do anything with this, following the wide attention, and if a film was in the offing, he replied: “I don’t know. It’s nice that so many people are [taking] an interest in this story.
“But, what’s more important for us is Cinnamon’s wellbeing, so there won’t be any sort of decisions made on that until we’re sure that she’s nice and fit and healthy.”