Toronto capybaras still on the loose as search continues
Posted May 26, 2016 2:34 pm.
Last Updated May 26, 2016 8:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto’s capybaras, recently nicknamed Bonnie and Clyde, are still on the lam.
The city’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation department has been scouring High Park looking for the daring duo, using a bait of corn, fruit and low clicking sounds familiar to capybaras.
The two Texas natives, estimated to be about six months old, have been on the loose since Tuesday, when they escaped from their pen at the High Park Zoo.
Zoo staff recommend not approaching the animals if spotted, because they are shy and skittish. Instead, they recommend spotters call 311.
“We received many reports today of sightings to 311 as far north as Finch and east to Scarborough,” the zoo wrote on their Facebook page. “These we believe were groundhogs. The difference is when a capybara walks you can see their legs.”
Lynn Goldman believes she may have seen the large rodents on Blue Forest Drive near Dufferin and Finch.
“We said, ‘What is that? A beaver or a cross? We watched the news and that was it, looks like a beaver with its tail cut off.”
She says the animals were near a ravine and water. “Everyone’s looking for it in High Park and I said, ‘Not uh, somehow it’s made it way north to the ravine.’”
One Toronto game developer has figured out a way to capitalize on the capybara craziness, by creating a game called “Caperbaras!” that can be played online.
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