An injured capybara is recovering after being attacked by a zoo visitor in Thailand.
Shocked staff at the Khon Kaen Exotic Pets & Fountain Show are treating the wounded animal after tourists swarmed the children’s zoo on January 1.
The rodent was found inside its enclosure with a bloody wound on its nose after the tourists had visited and fed it.
Zoo staff had kept the CCTV footage as evidence and are waiting for the culprit to contact them and explain why they struck the capybara. Nobody has so far contacted the zoo to confess.
Khon Kaen Exotic Pets & The Fountain Show owner Lalilil Detchwerapanit, 35, complained on social media after discovering her beloved animal had been hit with a vegetable basket by one of the visitors.
She said: ‘One of the visitors hit the capybara with a basket, causing a wound on its nose where the nerves are.
‘The capybaras at my zoo are familiar with humans and are very friendly. The staff reported to me saying that the tourist smashed the basket on the capybara’s nose because he was scared. I want to discuss with him what happened that day.’
Lalilil added that the capybara was visibly upset and lethargic after the incident.
Capybaras are considered the biggest rodent on Earth and can grow twice the size of an average beaver. They are also known to eat their own faeces to more thoroughly digest their diet of grass and other plants.