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

Last week, Neukgu, a two-year-old wolf, burrowed under a fence at Daejeon O-World zoo and theme park in South Korea, becoming a national sensation. Over 300 personnel, including firefighters, police officers, and military troops, have been deployed in the search. Despite thermal imaging camera sightings and a video of the wolf on a mountain road, Neukgu has consistently evaded capture, prompting a widespread public fascination.

The search has seen several twists, including false sightings by elementary school children and an AI-generated image of the wolf on a city street that expanded the search area. Concerns have been raised by animal rights groups, noting that a puma named Porongi escaped and was killed from the same zoo in 2018. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has expressed hopes for Neukgu's safe return.

Neukgu was born in captivity as part of a program to restore the Korean wolf, a species once native to the Korean Peninsula but now considered extinct in the wild. While authorities initially shut down a nearby elementary school as a safety precaution, there are also concerns about Neukgu's ability to survive in the wild due to his lack of hunting experience.