Escaped exotic creatures in Hampshire through the years

They were caught within ten minutes but a member of the public reported seeing another macaque some distance away near the flamingo park.

By the time keepers realised it was a false alarm the lockdown had been in place for about 30 minutes.

The Echo takes a look back at various occasions when exotic creatures have been on the loose in Hampshire.

Bear – 1877

For 30 years in the late 1800s and early 1900s The Bassett Hotel pub boasted of having a bear called Miskka, originally from Russia, which developed quite a taste for beer.

One day in 1877 she escaped and made a dash for the nearby common, but she was recaptured and taken back to the pub.

 

Unfortunately Miskka became dangerous and, due to fears of her breaking her cage again, was shot on July 18, 1907.

Miskka was stuffed by taxidermists and put into a glass case for all to see for many years that followed

Possum - May 2007

When the strange creature poked its furry head in his kitchen window, Louis Szasz mistook the Aussie critter for one of his cats.

However, he got quite a shock when the Antipodean visitor climbed in through the window and into a houseplant.

After a long chase, the creature was captured and its identity revealed - it was not a cat, but a bush-tailed possum.

And 27-year-old Louis was not the only one to get a shock - the possum got a fright when Louis' cats decided it looked like a tasty meal.

The Australian native marsupial was chased onto the kitchen windowsill before Louis managed to smother it in a towel and deposit it in a cat box.

 

Mr Szasz said it was like a scene from a comic.

The four-month-old male possum was taken to the RSPCA's Stubbington Ark animal home.

Unusually, it was not the first time a possum made a guest appearance in Woolston.

In October 2005 one of the cuddly critters was lured from a tree in Lyndock Place with bananas and grapes.

Natalie Rodgers, of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said that the only explanation for possum spottings in Southampton was that they were escaped pets.

Skunk - January 2009

Drinkers wandering out of a Southampton pub must have thought they were drunk as skunks when they saw an unusual animal crossing the street.

They might have expected to see a stray dog or cat – but they could not believe their eyes when the distinctive black and white striped creature walked in front of them.

The skunk was in fact a family pet who had temporarily escaped his home.

 

Janice and Chris Burgess bought Sparky for their autistic son Newton, 13, a year prior and the pair were inseparable.

But panic was sparked after he escaped through an open door and after a week on the loose the family had almost given up hope of seeing him again.

Remarkably, he was found near the former VT site in Woolston.

Sparky’s return didn’t kick up a stink at the Burgess house, Woolston, as he had his scent glands removed before the legislation came in forbidding the practice.

Rhea – October 2015

A rhea was rescued by police, fire crews and a specialist animal management team after a householder found it in his garden.

Police were called when the man found the large bird in the front garden of his home in Trampers Lane, North Boarhunt, Hampshire.

 

It was not known how the bird, nicknamed Snowflake, came to be in the garden.

The rhea is a large native South American bird which is a smaller cousin of the ostrich and it was believed the white female found in the garden might have escaped from a private collection.

Hampshire Police and firefighters were helped by the animal management team from Sparsholt College in capturing the bird.

Emu – February 2021

Winchester police officers warned motorists to drive slowly and keep an eye out after spotting an escaped bird on the A32 near Wickham Road.

Staff at the motorbike dealership Destination Triumph Solent spotted the bird and instantly became worried about a road accident taking place.

They managed to subdue the frightened bird, which was more than 5-foot tall, and temporarily named it Dave.

 

They managed to restrain Dave for around an hour before police arrived on the scene.

The owner got in touch after seeing media coverage of the bird (and police) in a flap.

Snake – December 2020

A Hampshire gas meter reader got the fright of his life when he discovered a slithery stowaway sliding between the pipes on one of his rounds.

The man spotted a snake nested inside a meter box in Beauchamp Avenue, Gosport and contacted the RSPCA.

It was soon discovered that the surprise visitor was a corn snake, a non-native breed often kept as pets in the UK.

RSPCA inspector Hannah Nixon, rescued the snake before taking the reptile to a specialist centre,