Marwell Zoo said several credible recent sightings have narrowed the search for Samba, the 11-month-old capybara that escaped on March 17 and has evaded recapture for ten weeks. One report placed her about three miles, or 5km, from the zoo in Brambridge near Winchester.
That is why the search has intensified now. More than 20 members of the zoo team have been out on the ground, with additional camera traps deployed in the area as staff work from a smaller target zone than before. The new reports have given the team the clearest lead yet on where Samba may be hiding.
Samba first drew attention five days after her escape, when a dog walker spotted her resting by a river near the zoo and captured phone footage of her jumping into the water and swimming off. Since then, Marwell Zoo has kept looking with thermal drones and a camera trap network, which the zoo says remain vital to the effort when there is specific, recent information to act on.
But even with those sightings, today’s search did not end the way the zoo wanted. Marwell Zoo said its teams were still unable to locate Samba despite the narrowed search area, the ground searches and the added equipment. The failure to find her underscores how quickly a young animal can slip through a familiar landscape even after a fresh lead appears promising.
Samba has now been missing since March 17, long enough for the search to become a local concern and a story that has drawn interest far beyond Hampshire. Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents, native to South America and capable of weighing up to 80kg and measuring as much as 1.7 metres, which is part of why each sighting has mattered so much. Marwell Wildlife said it remains grateful to local people for reporting what they see, and the next push will depend on whether the latest clues can lead searchers to the place Samba has chosen to disappear.
