Cinnamon … is back with her twin brother !

The giant rodent escaped from her enclosure at Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World on Friday 13 September, into nearby woodland.

She was found safe and well on Friday afternoon (20 September) in a pond within the neighbouring woodland conservation area, and is now back in her enclosure.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have Cinnamon back at the zoo,” said owner, Will Dorrell.

“I’d love to say it was nice and easy getting her out of the pond but it wasn’t. Several of us got very wet.

“Cinnamon was quite happy in the pond so we had to get in with her and slowly try to coax her into the cage.

“I know that there will be lots of people who will be very excited to see her, but nobody more so than her own mum and dad.”

Mr Dorrell said the team at the zoo had been “astounded” by the public reaction to her escape and they were grateful to everyone who had helped to ensure her safe return.

Teams worked for about an hour to get her out of the pond and into a cage.

She has since been returned to an enclosure with her twin brother, Churro, and the zoo said she was acclimatising to life back at the zoo.

Mr Dorrell said she seemed to be in good health, but would be checked over by a vet in the coming days.

In the meantime, experts will be monitoring her around the clock, and she will remain out of public view over the weekend.

“I think we’re probably not exaggerating to say that Cinnamon is probably the world’s most famous capybara, but it’s more important that she’s nice and fit and healthy,” Mr Dorrell said.

He added that she would hopefully be returned to her usual paddock with the rest of her family next week.

Mr Dorrell said her initial escape was down to “keeper error” and the zoo had put in place new measures to ensure it did not happen again.

Despite keepers putting out live traps along routes she had frequented on her trip to the wild, Cinnamon recognised attempts to capture her, and instead skirted around them.

Search efforts were called off temporarily on Thursday, amid concerns she would wander on to neighbouring Ministry of Defence land.

Over the week, searches were carried out on foot, as well as by air using thermal drones.

The woodland environment – dense thicket and brambles – made it “impenetrable” to zoo volunteers.

The story of the fugitive rodent attracted international attention, especially as the zoo reported that she was seemingly “living her best life”, wandering around and eating vegetation.

The animals are native to South America and are the largest living rodents in the world.