LUDLOW, MASS. (WHDH) - An antelope is back at the Lupa Zoo in Ludlow, officials said, five weeks after she escaped her enclosure earlier this year.
Officials said the antelope, known as “Mary,” escaped when her enclosure was damaged during a storm.
On their Facebook page on April 6, the Lupa Zoo said a male antelope inside the enclosure stayed put. Mary, the zoo said, “went for a walk” and had since been seen moving through Ludlow and nearby Wilbraham.
Zoo officials had been tracking Mary since her escape and finally found her Saturday night, according to the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department.
In his department’s statement on Sunday, Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi noted the efforts of Lupa Zoo Director of Facility Development and Animal Care Wally Lupa for his work to help bring Mary back to the zoo.
“I’m incredibly pleased this story has a happy ending, and that is due to the entire Lupa Zoo staff working tirelessly to bring her home safely,” Cocchi said. “Wally mostly slept in his car over the past five weeks as he tried everything imaginable to bring Mary home.
Wally Lupa, in the same statement, thanked the sheriff’s department and other agencies that stepped in to help since Mary’s escape, saying “I’m incredibly grateful for everyone I’ve met over the course of this journey.”
“It was like something out of a movie,” Wally said of Mary’s capture. “But I’m glad it’s over and maybe tonight I can finally sleep well and in my own bed.”
In their announcement, officials said Mary was spotted before her capture with several deer “who she apparently make friends with along the way.”
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