Samba the runaway Capybara caught on camera after months on the lam

A fugitive Capybara appears to be living her best life after being spotted on camera months after escaping a zoo.

Samba, 6, was spotted on a trap camera munching down on treats left for her by staff at Marwell Zoo as they try to entice her back to her enclosure.

As winter closes in, staff at the zoo said they were working ‘tirelessly’ to get the runaway rodent back.

A zoo spokesman said: ‘Recovering Samba is a gradual and carefully managed process. Although we know the area she is in, it isn’t simply a case of being able to approach and collect her.

‘It’s vital that we keep any stress to an absolute minimum, as frightening or disturbing her could cause her to move away from the area and make her safe recovery more difficult.’

‘We have also been establishing a feeding area, encouraging her to become familiar with the location and return regularly. This is an important step in our plans to safely recover her.

‘As Samba is currently on private land, and to avoid disturbing her or disrupting our ongoing efforts, we are keeping details of her exact location confidential.’

It came seven months after dogwalker Claudie Paddick last spotted the missing capybara resting in the March sunshine on the banks of the River Itchen.

The mother-of-two was out for a dog walk with her black labrador Growler, and her sausage dog, Patsy, when Growler began barking spooking the giant rodent.

Samba jumped into the river and swam off, but not before Paddick sent a photo to her neighbour, who called the zoo.

Mrs Paddick, a family lawyer, said: ‘It then jumped in the river and it didn’t come back out, and I was like, what the hell is that?

‘A capybara is something I have never seen or even heard of before, but now I’m a bit of an expert. We see lots of animals when we go walking down the river, but never a rodent from the Amazon.’

Samba had arrived at the zoo from Jimmy’s Farm and Wildlife Park with her sister, Tango.

Tango was quickly found but Samba has proved trickier to find despite thermal drones and sniffer dogs closing in.