The wolf, named Neukgu, escaped from its enclosure at O-World zoo around 9:15 AM on Wednesday by digging under a fence. Zoo officials discovered the animal missing during a pre-opening inspection, with CCTV later confirming the escape method. Neukgu was born in January 2024 and weighs between 30 kg and 35 kg.
Authorities launched a search the same morning, deploying more than 300 personnel. Drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras were brought in for the search, but were pulled back due to ongoing rain. Authorities divided the surrounding area into five sectors, formed human perimeters, and installed traps and baited cages.
The search has been complicated by worsening weather including rain and fog, which limited visibility and disrupted aerial searches. In the first 24 hours, Neukgu was detected multiple times in wooded hills near the zoo, including a confirmed sighting at about 1:30 AM on Thursday captured on thermal imaging cameras. More than 100 sightings reported to police and fire authorities were later found to be false or based on doctored or AI-generated images.
One reported sighting roughly 23 km away in Cheongju prompted an hour-long search that found no trace. Officials now believe the wolf remains in the wooded hills around O-World, particularly near Mount Bomun, guided by its homing instinct. Authorities have said the wolf may be hiding in a self-dug burrow, as it had previously shown similar behavior while inside its enclosure.
Search teams have shifted tactics and have begun placing traps and waiting for the animal to return rather than pursuing it. The zoo has broadcast recorded howls from the wolf's pack and replayed routine visitor announcements the animal had heard since birth in an attempt to lure it back. Neukgu is part of a programme to restore the Korean wolf, a subspecies classified as a Class I endangered species and considered functionally extinct in the wild in South Korea.
Korean wolves were reintroduced using wolves imported from Russia in 2008, after the last known wild wolf on the peninsula died in 1997. Concerns have grown over Neukgu's condition, and officials have said he last ate two chickens just before the escape.