The disappearance of Pedro, a harmless Brazilian rainbow caribou, was noticed in Korkeasaari in the first week of July. There has been no sign of Pedro since then.
Korkeasaari the zoo’s tropical Amazonia house is bustling on Thursdays in July. Families with children with strollers walk the corridors of the house, marveling at the frogs, turtles, fish and various monkey species moving around in their terrariums and cages.
However, among the branches and tropical humidity, there is one terrarium that is empty. It has been a 12-year-old Brazilian rainbow cariboo Pedro’s home from May.
Most of the visitors to the zoo passing by quickly pass the terrarium after seeing the “the zoo is temporarily empty” sign next to it. Others stop to marvel at the half-sized rodent displayed in the terrarium, set up as bait. Some mention the missing snake.
They also pass by the terrarium Life and Timo Vainikkaand their 6- and 3-year-old sons Miro and Climb. Elina Vainikka says that she last read the day before that the snake is still on the run. However, he has not remembered to tell the children about it, who are more interested in the turtles in the Amazonia house and the frogs living in the adjacent terrarium. Vainikka says that she treats the missing snake mostly with humor.
Instead of Pedro’s empty terrarium, the smallest of the Vainika family were interested in the frogs living next door.
The most curious zoo visitors stopped to look inside Pedro’s terrarium, even though the sign next to it says that it is empty for now.
A half rodent has been brought in to lure Pedro.
Already however, the Brazilian rainbow caribou, Pedro, who has been missing for a few weeks, has caused a headache for the zoo’s staff.
Director of animal care and protection Nina Trontti says that Pedro is believed to be probably somewhere in the sewer network of the house. That’s why the sewers have been filmed both with Korkeasaari’s own filming equipment and with the equipment of HVAC professionals. As a precaution, the toilets in the house are closed.
In the past week, the Korkeasaari pumping station and the Amazonia building’s air conditioning network have also been investigated, but no trace of Pedro has been seen.
As a new method, a game camera with a motion detector has been installed at night in the maintenance corridors behind Pedro’s terrarium. The hope is that the whereabouts and condition of the snake, which moves around at night and mostly avoids people, could be confirmed with the help of a game camera.
Trontti turns on the game camera in the maintenance rooms of the Amazonia house.
So far, Pedro has not been caught in the pictures of the game camera that works with a motion detector.
The green door leads from the maintenance corridor to Pedro’s empty terrarium. The next door leads to the mustamaki’s cage.
Brazilian rainbow caribou is not dangerous to humans and thrives in place. It often remains hidden during the day, and therefore the exact time of Pedro’s disappearance is uncertain.
Trontti says that Pedro was offered food about a month ago. After that, Pedro’s presence in the terrarium was reported by a pile of feces. The disappearance of the boa was noticed in the first week of July.
Hunger is unlikely to drive Pedro back to humans, as he might as well hunt wild mice and voles for food when he is free.
Looking at Pedro’s terrarium, it’s hard to see where a snake 1.5 meters long and as thick as a wrist could go on its own adventures.
The same is being considered by the zoo’s staff. The most likely route is considered to be the drain of the terrarium pool, as the drain structure was missing a garbage strainer and the outlet pipe is sized according to a larger snake that previously lived in the space.
in Korkeasaari according to Tront, we regularly practice scenarios where the animal has escaped. Still, the real-life situation is unusual and surprising.
Due to Pedro’s escape, the Amazonia house has slightly more staff than usual and the animal caretakers are on the lookout in case a snake happens to be seen. According to Tront, we are constantly thinking about what the zoo could still do to find the snake and, on the other hand, what could be done to prevent something similar from happening again.
“From the beginning, we wanted to be open about this disappearance, because we understand that some people are afraid of snakes. We have been surprised how little fear of snakes has come across in our social media. More people have been interested,” says Trontti.
It’s easy to see people’s interest, because when we walk to the Amazonia house and back, a few passers-by stop to ask Tront if the lost snake has been found yet.
Not yet, Trontti calmly answers curious questions.
What so what happens when Pedro is finally hopefully found?
“It will be taken to a safe place so that it cannot get out immediately. The condition of the animal is checked, of course we hope that everything is fine. After that, of course, you have to make sure that the terrarium is durable for Pedro,” says Trontti.
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