How a couple of capybaras escaped High Park Zoo, leaving a lone male behind
Turns out the 2 rodents likened to Thelma and Louise are male-female, so more like Bonnie and Clyde
The tale of two furry female fugitives on the lam from Toronto's High Park Zoo has taken an unexpected turn with the revelation they weren't so much like Thelma and Louise, but more like Bonnie and Clyde.
How's that, you ask? Basically when zoo staff met up to figure out what went wrong Tuesday night, they figured out they were actually looking for a male capybara and a female capybara that were supposed to mate.
- Capybaras on the loose! The chase is on after dog-size rodents escape High Park zoo
- 2 capybaras on the loose after escaping pens at High Park Zoo
We can hear helicopters overhead. Is that you looking for us, <a href="https://twitter.com/HighParkZoo">@HighParkZoo</a> ?
—@HPcapybara
So let's go back to the start and find out how this happened, shall we? Take two.
Picture it, a nice warm Tuesday morning in High Park Zoo, and Chewy, a male capybara, is lounging around in his spacious pen all by his lonesome, oblivious to the fact everything is about to supposedly change.
City parks department workers were trying to introduce a new male capybara and female capybara to the enclosure to mate, and remove Chewy, when things suddenly went south.
In their attempts to make the swap, staff lost control of the new couple, hereby dubbed Bonnie and Clyde, according to Megan Price of the Toronto parks department.
The pair of bandits then made their escape, while Chewy was happy to hang out at home in his pen.
So did Bonnie and Clyde have a plan in the works for awhile? Did Chewy scare them off in an effort to keep his home? Or was it maybe just a spur-of-the-moment dash for freedom from a pair of young lovers?
We may never know.
But here are two of the more colourful local theories from Twitter.
It might be a desperation move, but I support the Blue Jays signing those 2 Capybaras.
—@captainpearson
<a href="https://twitter.com/BTtoronto">@BTtoronto</a> leave the capybaras alone they just want to watch the <a href="https://twitter.com/Beyonce">@Beyonce</a> concert tonight! <a href="https://twitter.com/Toronto">@Toronto</a>
—@ycra
On Tuesday, Helen Sousa, with the parks department, said that if you see the two capybaras, don't approach them.
"They aren't dangerous, they won't bite or anything," said Sousa about the rodents, which are herbivores, but "they are very skittish, so they'll run away."
Residents who spot the 2 capybaras @ large from the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HighParkZoo?src=hash">#HighParkZoo</a> should contact <a href="https://twitter.com/311Toronto">@311Toronto</a> w/ location details. <a href="https://t.co/GMrysxoHGz">pic.twitter.com/GMrysxoHGz</a>
—@TorontoComms
Mayor John Tory went to the High Park Zoo on Wednesday afternoon while officials continued to search for the missing pair.
"We're getting reports that they've been seen as far away as Scarborough. It would be quite a feat for these small, relatively young animals in 24 hours to have made their way to Scarborough unless they took the TTC," Tory said.
"We know raccoons have been on the TTC, so it wouldn't be a first."
Clarifications
- An earlier version of this story said the two capybaras are female rodents, as told to CBC News by Toronto's parks department. In fact, one is female and the other is male, a department spokesperson said Wednesday.May 25, 2016 12:06 PM ET