The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

(Image: SWNS.COM)

The 18-month-old capybara was last spotted by a stream scurrying 13 miles from owner Vernon Moore's home.

Mr Moore, 45, realised his bizarre pet was missing one month ago when it vanished from its enclosure near Melton Mowbray, Leics.

It is thought a lust for love drove the wayward creature, native to South America, to escape.

Mr Moore, an estate agent managing director, said: "He's like an overgrown guinea pig.

"They come from the Amazon rainforest, they are quite secretive and only come out of the water at night to feed.

"He's absolutely harmless.

"As well as a bit of a territorial dispute with his brother now they're getting bigger, I think he may have got fed up and got out of the enclosure in search of a mate.

"I've been baiting a cage with food since I heard about where he'd been spotted.

"I'm hoping that now the crops have been harvested there will be less for him to eat and he'll be tempted by the bait."

The horny capybara was spotted in Empingham, Rutland, by a rambler in September.

Ian McGlynn, 80, thought the rodent was a "small sheep" at first.

The shocked OAP said: "I go out for a walk three or four times a week andI just saw it off a public footpath.

"It just stayed there and didn't move as I took the photo."

Mr Moore added the runaway rodent will be rehomed at a farm park in Yorkshire when its found — because the centre will have a breeding programme for the sex-mad animal.