One escaped Toronto capybara captured, one still loose

Volunteers from Toronto's High Park Zoo captured one of the two "fugitive" capybara that had escaped from the zoo in May. They were unsure whether it was the male or female and the other capybara is still at large. Photo by Andrew M. Allport/Shutterstock.com

One of the two capybaras that had escaped from a zoo in Toronto was captured after a nearly month-long pursuit.

Staff from High Park zoo were able to capture the dog-sized rodent at about 7 p.m. on Sunday evening and bring it back to the zoo.

"It is resting off-site for now and we will have more updates later," a High Park spokesperson told the Toronto Star. "It was a team effort with parks staff, Toronto Wildlife Centre and volunteers."

The two capybaras, one male and one female, escaped from the zoo on May 24 and the other remains at large. Zoo staff were unsure whether the capybara captured was the male or the female.

Passerby Emma Renda told the CBC that she witnessed the capture while she was out for a run.

"The team had set up a trap and put some corn in it," she said. "We heard a fence closing. All of a sudden they realized they caught it. Some of the team was high-fiving. It was really exciting."

Ben Lovatt, who was one of the volunteers tracking the capybaras, said the team had set up the barrier and described the process as "an observation game."

"The night was relatively good for capture," he said. "It was shockingly simple after all the work we've done, but we managed to track her down."