Cinnamon the giant rodent has finally been captured over a week after her grand escape from her habitat in Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World.
The missing capybara was located on Wednesday by her team who were working around the clock to bring her home.
The search party used a thermal drone to try and locate Cinnamon, who was reportedly ‘living her best life’ in the wild.
It is believed the one-year-old escaped through an open gate in her enclosure, and fled into adjacent woodland.
After a week on the run, the capybara was finally found in a pond close to the zoo in Telford, Shropshire by a search team – who spent an hour trying to get her out of the water and into a cage.
Will Dorrell, the zoo’s owner, said the team were ‘absolutely delighted’ to have Cinnamon back.
‘I know that there will be lots of people who will be very excited to see her, but nobody more so than her own mum and dad,’ he said.
‘We’ve been astounded at the public reaction to Cinnamon’s escape and are so grateful to everybody who has helped to return her safely to the zoo.’
Cinnamon has reunited with her twin brother, Churro, and has been acclimatising to life back at the zoo.
The rodents, that are native to South America, are considered to be very social animals.
Capybaras are the largest rodent species in the world, and can grow to 4 feet long and 24 inches tall, and can weigh between 77 to 146 pounds.
They are also good swimmers, and are able to hold their breath for five minutes at a time – so Cinnamon was unlikely to be in any danger when she was found in the body of water by her search team.
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