Where is Samba now?

One runaway rodent, a village on alert and half the country suddenly emotionally invested!

On 16 March, two capybaras, Samba and Tango, made a break from their temporary enclosure at Marwell Zoo near Winchester. Tango was found quickly, but her sister Samba remains at large, and the mission to find her has attracted a lot of coverage, both nationally and internationally.

The University of Southampton works regularly with Marwell Wildlife, so our teams stepped in to help with the search, deploying researchers from our School of Engineering and drone labs to operate thermal imaging cameras to locate her.

Notable sightings:

• General area: Concentrated heavily along the River Itchen, stretching between Owslebury, Twyford, Coldon Common, and Highbridge villages.
• Late March 2026: Confirmed sighting by a dog walker, seeing her dive into the water and locals filming her on the riverbank.
• April & May 2026: Recent updates suggest Samba remains highly elusive, frequently grazing on dense riverside vegetation, and bite marks matching her feeding behaviour have been found.

It's now been two months and, despite a massive hunt spanning dense vegetation, waterways, and stolen camera traps, the search for Samba remains active. We're still helping behind the scenes to bring her home to her sister, Tango.