A large-scale multi-agency search is entering its fourth day in central South Korea, after a young gray wolf escaped a city zoo by burrowing under an enclosure fence last week, sparking public safety alerts and unexpected viral attention online.
Two-year-old male wolf Neukgu broke out of Daejeon O-World, a combined zoo and theme park located in the central South Korean city of Daejeon, on Wednesday, April 8, according to local zoo officials. After completing mandatory daily pre-opening enclosure inspections, staff noticed the wolf was absent from its habitat. A review of closed-circuit security footage confirmed Neukgu had damaged the base of the enclosure’s fence and dug through the underlying soil to escape, a zoo representative told local outlet *The Korea Times*.
Since the escape, authorities have mobilized over 300 personnel to track the animal, including trained firefighters, local police officers, and military troops. Search teams initially deployed thermal imaging cameras and drones to cover the wooded hillsides surrounding the zoo; thermal footage captured by the Korea Wildlife Protection Association on Wednesday did confirm Neukgu was moving through forested terrain within a few kilometers of the zoo. However, search efforts were hampered early Thursday when sudden heavy rain forced operators to ground all drones, an official told AFP.
As a precautionary public safety measure, a nearby elementary school suspended in-person classes on Thursday, and local government officials have issued repeated warnings to area residents to stay vigilant when outdoors, avoid isolated wooded areas, and immediately report any potential sightings of the wolf to search command.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung publicly addressed the incident in a post on the social platform X Thursday, saying, “I hope no human casualties occur and I pray that Neukgu also returns home safely.”
What makes this search particularly notable is Neukgu’s role in a critical conservation initiative: the wolf, born in captivity in 2024, is part of a long-running program working to restore the Korean wolf, a subspecies that is officially classified as extinct in the wild across the Korean peninsula. A successful recapture would help protect the progress of this ongoing conservation work.
The high-profile escape has already captured the public’s imagination, drawing comparisons to a viral 2023 incident where a zebra named Sero escaped from a Seoul zoo and remained at large for several days. In an unexpected twist, the runaway wolf has already inspired a new meme cryptocurrency named after Neukgu, which launched on decentralized crypto exchanges within 24 hours of the escape being reported, local media confirmed.