SEOUL, April 17 (Reuters) – A wolf that escaped from a zoo in the South Korean city of Daejeon was recaptured on Friday after nine days on the run, bringing to a close a saga that gripped the public as the elusive animal evaded earlier capture attempts.
After a number of sightings following the escape of the 2-year-old male wolf, the animal, named Neukgu, was spotted near a highway interchange about 4 km (2.5 miles) from the zoo on Thursday, according to a zoo official.
A search team then successfully recaptured Neukgu at 12:44 a.m. on Friday (1544 GMT on Thursday) using a tranquilizer gun operated by a veterinarian.
Neukgu was transported back to the O-World zoo and was undergoing a health check, the official said, adding his vital signs were normal though vets found and removed a fishing hook from his stomach.
The zoo and an associated theme park were closed after his escape and will take some time to reopen, the official said.
Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo welcomed the wolf’s safe return and thanked the search party, pledging in a Facebook post to “prepare measures for animal welfare and civil safety in the process of reorganising (the zoo).”
Neukgu’s escape in Daejeon, about 170 km (105 miles) south of the capital Seoul, had captured the nation’s attention.
South Korean online message boards were abuzz with news of the recapture, with some posts calling Neukgu an “honorary ambassador for the zoo” and vowing to visit him once it reopened.
Neukgu appeared to have slipped out of the zoo last week by burrowing under a fence, a zoo official said at the time.A nearby elementary school was closed as a precaution, while more than 100 personnel searched for the animal, in an effort that included the use of drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras.
The episode even spawned a cryptocurrency meme coin named “Neukgu”, which appeared on decentralised cryptocurrency exchanges a week ago.
President Lee Jae Myung also weighed in on the social media platform X last week, urging authorities to ensure a safe outcome.
Born in 2024, Neukgu is part of a programme to restore the Korean wolf, a species considered extinct in the wild.
(Reporting by Minwoo Park and Joyce Lee; Editing by Ed Davies and Jamie Freed)
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