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."