A young male wolf that broke free from a South Korean theme park zoo remained unaccounted for on Thursday, forcing local education officials to shutter a nearby elementary school out of public safety concerns, as hundreds of emergency personnel continue a widespread manhunt for the animal.
The escape unfolded Wednesday at a zoo located within a Daejeon theme park, a major metropolitan city roughly 150 kilometers south of the capital Seoul. Weighing approximately 30 kilograms, the 2024-born wolf escaped after digging under and damaging the zoo’s perimeter fence, according to officials from Daejeon Fire Headquarters. Local media has released public imagery showing the predator wandering openly along a public road in the area.
In response to the breach, authorities assembled a joint search team of more than 300 people, drawing resources from local fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and military personnel. The operation hit an early setback Thursday, however, when ongoing heavy rain forced crews to retrieve deployed search drones, cutting off a key aerial surveillance tool for tracking the animal.
Confirming the school closure, a spokesperson for the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education told Agence France-Presse that Daejeon Sanseong Elementary School suspended all classes Thursday in direct response to the escape. The decision comes as local communities remain on high alert for the loose wild animal.
The incident marks the latest high-profile animal escape from a South Korean zoo in less than two years. In 2023, a male zebra named Sero captured global public attention after breaking out of a Seoul zoo and roaming through the city’s residential and commercial streets. That incident ended without harm to the zebra or the public, after Sero was cornered in a narrow alleyway, tranquilized safely, and returned uninjured to his enclosure.