South Korea's runaway wolf finally captured after nine-day search

South Korea's runaway wolf finally captured after nine-day search7 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKoh EweandHosu Lee,SeoulDaejeon Metropolitan City HallNeukgu's pulse and body temperature were normal after the capture, authorities saidNeukgu, the two-year-old wolf who broke loose from a South Korean zoo and captured the nation's attention, has finally been captured following a nine-day long search.Neukgu was captured near an expressway on Friday at 00:44 local time (16:44 GMT), according to the government of Daejeon, the central city where his zoo was located.Upon a medical examination, Neukgu's pulse and body temperature were normal, authorities said.Hundreds of rescue officials had been deployed to find the wolf, and there were a couple of times when authorities came close to getting him - but each time the net seemed to be closing in, Neukgu would slink away. Authorities had nearly caught him earlier this week, when the local fire department received a report on Monday night that Neukgu had been spotted on a mountain about 2km (1.2 miles) away from O-World, the zoo and theme park from which he had broken loose.A video of the wolf scampering on a road in the dark, illuminated by the headlights of a vehicle, was also uploaded on social media.Authorities pounced on the lead, launching a search-and-rescue mission, but ultimately he escaped again.The elusive Neukgu has inspired a meme coin, hailed by its creators as a the "wolf that wouldn't stay caged" and a "symbol of independence".Born in 2024, Neukgu is part of a programme at O-World to restore the Korean wolf, which once roamed the Korean Peninsula but is now considered extinct in the wild.But after a life in captivity, some worried that he wouldn't be able to survive in the wild.Animal rights groups were also concerned that Neukgu would be killed during the capture process - something that happened to Porongi, a puma that had escaped from the same...