A farming couple have pleaded for their stolen capybaras to be returned safely.
Ollie and Nikki Lake, who run Thorabella Farm in Forres, Scotland, were distraught to discover that their two 10-month-old capybaras were missing on Monday morning. Capybaras, native to South America, are the world’s largest rodents.
The farmers have said they will not prosecute the thieves if capybaras Javier and Esmerelda are returned safely.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Lake, 38, said: “The people that took them can scurry off. I don’t care. I want my animals back.”
He said he could not understand why someone would steal the animals, suggesting that someone may have “ordered” them to be stolen.
The farmer explained: “We went into the enclosure that morning. With no sign of them inside their heated house and no sign in the paddock, we feared the worst. We spent the whole day searching.
“We came to the conclusion they have either escaped or been stolen, but it is highly likely that they have been stolen. I’d love them to be returned, but don’t see it happening.”
The missing pair are “about 8ins to 10ins tall” according to Mr Lake, making the idea that they could have escaped over a 6ft fence “extremely far fetched”.
Asked whether there was any evidence of a theft, Mrs Lake, 34, said: “There was nothing in the snow. There’s a walk around, and there were no footprints there at all.”
Mr Lake claimed that tractors and cars driving across the farm site had compacted the snow into pathways, meaning it was most likely that the culprits had arrived in a vehicle to snatch the animals.
“Someone could have easily come in with a truck and nobody would have known any different,” he added.
His wife said: “Because we walk back across the farm so much there are pathways everywhere. The lack of trails in the snow is what’s making it so hard [to track any potential culprits]. We’ve just got to crack on.”
The couple purchased the capybara breeding couple for £6,500 after spending 18 months on a waiting list, and had big plans for them on the farm.
Mr Lake said: “Capybaras are amphibious and our farm is quite wet and we thought they would be a good fit, so we bought them.
“The plan was to breed them and have a few more to start farm experiences when we have babies. People could handle them in close-up encounters. It was a big part of our business for the next two years.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said it had “received a report of a theft of two capybaras at a premises in the Dallas area near Forres. Inquiries are at an early stage”.