Finding Neukgu: South Korea's viral hunt for a runaway wolf

Last week, a young wolf burrowed under a fence at his zoo in the South Korean city of Daejeon and escaped - becoming the country's newest, furriest fugitive.

Since then, the hunt for two-year-old Neukgu has undergone twists and turns, captivated the country and even inspired an eponymous meme coin.

Despite the more than 300 firefighters, police officers and military troops deployed find him, Neukgu has eluded capture for a week and counting.

There were some near misses: the day after his escape, Neukgu showed up on thermal imaging cameras as a glowing blob weaving through foliage near Daejeon O-World, the zoo and theme park from which he had broken loose.

But authorities lost track of him while replacing the battery of the camera drone, local media reported.

Then came another breakthrough on Monday night, when the local fire department received a report that Neukgu had been spotted on a mountain about 2km (1.2 miles) away from O-World.

A video of the wolf scampering on a road in the dark, illuminated by the headlights of a vehicle, was uploaded on social media.

Authorities pounced on the lead, launching a search-and-rescue mission that involved dozens of police officers and military drones.

But each time the net seemed to be closing in on Neukgu, he would slink off the radar. By the following morning, he was gone again.

The search for Neukgu has grabbed national attention and drawn the efforts of the local community.

The day after Neukgu's disappearance, authorities received dozens of reported sightings, including some boys who cried wolf: elementary school kids who had mistaken dogs for Neukgu, the Chosun Daily reported.

At one point, one resident reportedly tried to help the search operation by showing up with their own wolfdog - a plan that apparently hadn't been discussed with authorities.

And then an image purportedly showing Neukgu trotting down a city street was widely circulated - leading authorities to expand their search beyond the zoo. But this later turned out to be a wild wolf chase: the image was AI-generated.

In 2018, police shot dead an eight-year-old puma, called Porongi, which had escaped from the same zoo as Neukgu.

Many hope Neukgu will not meet the same fate, including South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who wrote on X: "I hope no human casualties occur and I pray that Neukgu also returns home safely."

Animal rights group have also weighed in.

"The location of this incident is the same O-World where Porongi escaped and was killed in 2018," said the Animal Freedom Solidarity group, according to a Chosun report.

"The same accident has occurred again. We hope Neukgu will be safely captured without repeating Porongi's fate... the reality that the life of an animal may be at stake due to [an] accident caused by poor management and structural defects of [its] facility is clearly unjust."

For now, the elusive Neukgu has become a "symbol of independence", a "wolf that wouldn't stay caged", according to creators of the meme coin Neukgu. In the last 24 hours the meme coin has recorded a trading volume of around $150,000 (£110,000).

Born in 2024, Neukgu is part of a programme at O-World to restore the Korean wolf, which once roamed the Korean Peninsula but is now considered extinct in the wild.

The Korean wolf, as described in an American newspaper in 1916, sports "piercing eyes" and "wonderful agility".

"In attacking a man it will follow him for a time and occasionally leap over his head, seeking to unnerve him and cause him to fall to the ground, when it will immediately attack and kill."

After Neukgu's escape from O-World, authorities swiftly shut down a nearby elementary school as a safety precaution.

But as hair-raising as a loose wolf is for the locals, the situation may be equally fur-raising for Neukgu.

It's unclear what remains of Neukgu's feral instincts, after a life in captivity. Some have flagged concerns about his survival. Neukgu has little, if any, hunting experience.

In the wild, wolf packs primarily subsist on wild ungulates - hoofed, typically herbivorous, animals such as deer, cows and pigs. These carnivores can go days, even weeks, without food.

The last known meal that Neukgu reportedly had: two chickens the night before his escape.

Loudspeakers at O-World, which has been closed to visitors since Neukgu's escape, have been blaring wolf howls and park announcements - the ones that Neukgu grew up listening to.

In last-seen footage of Neukgu posted by Daejeon authorities, the young wolf is seen sprawled on a bed of leaves in the forest before getting up to pace around. "Please, wish for a safe capture of Neukgu," reads the caption on the video.

Additional reporting by Hosu Lee