‘It was bonkers’: Samba the runaway capybara inspires a wild rodent hunt

Barely 24 hours after nine-month-old capybaras Samba and Tango were brought to Marwell Zoo near Winchester, they had made a break for it through a hole in their temporary enclosure. The siblings were transferred to Hampshire from Jimmy’s farm and wildlife park in Suffolk on 16 March after being outshone by other capybaras.Tango was quickly found, but her sister Samba remains at large, and the mission to find her has attracted national and international coverage.“We have deployed search teams including the use of specialist dog units used to track her scent, and thermal drones,” said Laura Read, the chief executive of Marwell Zoo. So far Samba has reportedly been sighted in a pub beer garden and basking on a riverbank.Emma Smith, the manager of the Ship Inn in Owslebury, about 2 miles from the zoo, said search dogs and drones had turned up when the capybara was spotted at the pub two days after her escape.“It’s been proper crazy,” Smith said. “It’s just a little village, you know?”Emma Smith is the manager of the Ship Inn in Owslebury. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The GuardianCapybaras are native to South America and are well adapted to evading capture. They are fast, with a top running speed of 22mph. They are also excellent swimmers, with webbed feet and the ability to hold their breath for up to five minutes.Capybaras are technically the world’s largest rodent species and at the upper end of the spectrum they can grow to 5ft long and weigh 66kg. But Samba is just a pup, which makes her harder to spot.Dr Mark Pickering, a member of the University of Southampton’s engineering department who has been using thermal imaging drones in the search for Samba, has found the process challenging.“The technology is similar to what’s commonly used in search and rescue by emergency services, but this capybara is quite a small animal, in a large habitat,” he said.Marwell Zoo is appealing for help from the public in the search for Samba. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The GuardianWith no natural predators in the UK, the urgency surrounding Samba’s escape is not because she is in a huge amount of danger, but the zoo is concerned about the separation of two sister pups. “Capybaras are social animals and our focus is on retrieving Samba safely and reuniting her with her sister Tango back at Marwell Zoo,” said Read.Claudie Paddick filmed Samba taking a dip in the River Itchen as she was walking her dogs Growler and Patsy near her house last Sunday. In the video, Samba is seen sunbathing on the riverbank in Twyford. Then Growler, a black labrador, barks in curiosity. Immediately the capybara dives into the water and does not resurface.“It was bonkers,” said Paddick, a family lawyer. “I didn’t even know what a capybara was.” She showed the video to her neighbours, Lindsay and Luke, who immediately recognised it as the zoo’s missing animal.“Luke came running down with one of his fishing nets to try and catch it,” she said. Soon volunteers had come out to help search the area, including Read, the zoo’s chief executive, who spotted Samba in the water. A zoo member borrowed Paddick’s paddleboard and used a net to try to flush the capybara out.Eliza Holland heard about Samba from relatives living nearby and came straight to Winchester on Friday, hoping to catch a glimpse of the animal and aid the search effort. Without drones in her toolkit she has been walking along the River Itchen trying to imagine what Samba may be thinking in order to figure out where she has gone.Eliza Holland has been roaming along the River Itchen, hoping to catch sight of Samba. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian“We’ve seen Samba sunbathing already. So I think she’s a lady of leisure,” said Holland. While she has not glimpsed the capybara, she has enjoyed trading theories with passersby.“There’s instantly a connection you make with people walking along the riverbank and you say, have you seen a capybara here? They’re very inviting.”While the trail has gone cold for now, excitement is bubbling away online. AI-generated images have flooded local Facebook groups, featuring Samba in various local spots. Pictures of Samba at the hairdressers getting a trim, sipping a pint at the Cricketer’s Arms or delivering pizzas.As of Friday afternoon, no new information has come to light about Samba’s whereabouts, but search teams have reported that they are closing in.If you see Samba, please do not reveal her location immediately. Instead, contact the zoo on a dedicated 24-hour hotline at 07436 167401.