The Toronto escaped Capybaras have been on the loose since May 24. The first one was caught June 12. The second one was caught last night.
The two did very well on their own in the park. If it were not so cold in the winter they could have stayed on th loose for a long time.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0
Toronto has had a lot of fun with the idea of escaped Capybaras. I am going to miss checking the news to see if there had been any sightings.
I wonder how the Capybaras feel about it.
I'm glad he was found not an ideal state of affairs for a capybara.
I am glad they were found. If they have been 'institutionalised' all their lives, they don't have the skills to survive and prosper in the wild (or out on their own like that)
Anything could hurt them out there.
They might have enjoyed their adventure to some degree. But I bet they are glad in a way to be back again.
Capybaras can't actually survive in Canada. They need winter protection. So we did need to catch them before the fall.
Also the coyotes were a danger to them. They would not know how to protect themselves from a coyote.
They were captive born Capybaras so they were used to being cared for. I know the person who was tracking and observing them and he thought it was likely that they did not know they were on the loose. They were still in the park and everything they needed was right there for them. The first capybara that was caught had settled into one area and acted like she was still in an enclosure. She had routines and habits established very quickly and never tried to leave the area.
The other capybara wandered more, but it stayed in a small area of the park as well.
So it was more of an adventure for us tracking them than it was for the capybaras themselves.
I found a bit of a follow-up article about the Capybara episode.
It is funny to look at the map that lists all the Capybara sightings. They never left high park, but people were "seeing" them everywhere. I love the woman who saw one climb a tree. A capybara? Up a tree? Do you think it might have been on of our many local squirrels.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0
From talking to the Ben mentioned in the article, I understand that the two Capys didn't really know they were on the lam. They thought they were in a big pen. Also they would have caught them sooner if less people had tried to help them.
We all had a lot of fun with the great capybara caper. I am sure they are fine now, but it was a great adventure.