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Escaped Manx mongoose Gef recaptured at brewery 17 miles from home 'Motivated' mongoose to get 'happy ending' after brewery capture
(about 2 hours later)
The yellow mongoose was safely returned Curraghs Wildlife Park on TuesdayThe yellow mongoose was safely returned Curraghs Wildlife Park on Tuesday
A missing yellow mongoose has been caught at a brewery 17 miles from its home at a wildlife park on the Isle of Man. A yellow mongoose which went missing from a wildlife park for almost a month probably escaped because he was "highly motivated to find a female", an expert has said.
The small carnivorous mammal, nicknamed Gef in a nod to Manx folklore, disappeared last month from Curraghs Wildlife Park in Ballaugh and was found in the grounds of Heron & Brearley brewery on the Old Castletown Road in Kewaigue. Curraghs Wildlife Park manager Kathleen Graham said keepers "looked everywhere" after the mammal burrowed out of the site in Ballaugh on the Isle of Man in late May.
Gef will now spend time in the sanctuary's quarantine facility, ahead of plans to find the nine-month-old mongoose a female mate at another zoo. The nine-month-old, nicknamed Gef in a nod to Manx folklore, was finally caught 17 miles (27km) in the grounds of a brewery in Kewaigue after several sightings at locations around the island.
Conservationists said they were "very relieved" that Gef was "safe and looked well" after his adventure. Ms Graham said Gef was now "safe and looked well" and would spend time in quarantine, ahead of him hopefully finding a "happy ending" with a "nice female" at another zoo.
The wildlife park's manager, Kathleen Graham, said Gef had burrowed out of the northern wildlife park "before TT began" in late May She said Gef had escaped at some point before the island's annual TT motorbiking festival began in late May
Wildlife officers "looked everywhere and there was no sight of him" at the enclosure, she said. She said wildlife officers "looked everywhere and there was no sight of him", before being "surprised" by a tip-off from a resident that the mongoose was on the loose in their garden about 12 miles (20km) to the south in Union Mills.
They were then "surprised" to receive a tip-off from a resident in Union Mills who had spotted a mongoose in their garden. Gef was next spotted a few miles further south in the National Sport Centre car park in Douglas, before being recaptured using traps on the outskirts of the city at Heron & Brearley brewery on the Old Castletown Road, she said.
Native to southern Africa and sometimes nicknamed the red meerkat, mongooses can "cover distance and move very fast", Ms Graham said.
"Animals will escape, if they have the motivations to... I think he was highly motivated to go and find a female."
Gef the mongoose was tracked down at at brewery in KewaigueGef the mongoose was tracked down at at brewery in Kewaigue
Gef was next spotted in the National Sport Centre car park in Douglas, before being recaptured using traps at the brewery, the park manager said. She said yellow mongooses, which is native to southern Africa and sometimes nicknamed the red meerkat, could "cover distance and move very fast"
"You couldn't make it up," she joked. "Animals will escape, if they have the motivations to," she said.
"Some people have said 'keep him here', but we think he wants to go", Ms Graham said. "I think he was highly motivated to go and find a female."
"In all honestly there's a lot of dangers out there and we'll find him a nice home and a nice female, so he will have a happy ending." "Some people have said 'keep him here', but we think he wants to go.
"In all honestly, there's a lot of dangers out there [so] we'll find him a nice home and a nice female, so he will have a happy ending."
Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.