After ‘living her best life’ in the wild for a week, Cinnamon is back at the zoo reunited with her twin brother, Churro – and is acclimatising to life back in captivity
A capybara called Cinnamon who went on the run for a week escaped because she was “startled by the sound of a tractor”, keepers have said.
The giant one-year-old rodent captured the nation’s hearts after she escaped from her enclosure at Hoo Zoo & Dinosaur World in Telford on Friday, September 13. After “living her best life” in the wild for a week, Cinnamon was found in a nearby pond, and is “absolutely fine, other than a little bit tired,” her keepers have said.
Will Dorrell, joint owner of the park, said “keeper error” meant the animal was able to flee through an open gate after being startled by a mower. He said: “We think the tractor startled her and she dashed past and out the gate. 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, Mr Dorrell was asked what he thought Cinnamon was up to out of the zoo on her own, and he said she’s “probably living her best life”, adding: “The area, unfortunately for us, where the zoo is, there’s lots of watercourses, lots of food, all the things that capybaras love to eat and they love to swim.”
Describing the moment Cinnamon was found, Hoo Zoo joint owner Becky Dorrell said she followed a power line had come down during a storm two weeks ago, which led to some trees being cut down. She said: “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.”
Capybaras, which can grow to be 4.6ft long and up to 2ft high, are semi-aquatic and adapted for life in water. On Thursday, the zoo said attempts to capture Cinnamon had been paused so she did not become stressed.
She is now back with her brother Churro is set to be reunited with her parents on Saturday, once a vet has checked her over. Since capybara’s are non-native, Mr Dorrell said the zoo had a responsibility to make sure Cinnamon wasn’t left roaming the British countryside.
Keepers were working through the night on Wednesday to try to catch her, but said the area where she was living was “extremely dense” with “almost impenetrable” undergrowth. She was spotted by a thermal drone within five metres of the place she was seen on Tuesday night, and keepers found fresh tracks and capybara poo.
Mr Dorrell added: “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.”
