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The Patagonian cavies look like jackrabbits and are native to Argentina.

Duke recalled a case of escaped Patagonian cavies in McCormick County, where The Greenwood Index-Journal reported a kangaroo was spotted last year.

But he said it’s been six or seven years since the last cavy was reported to Natural Resources.

Guests who come to visit Dave and Dawn Hoekstra’s collection of exotic animals can come face-to-face with lemurs, watch Patagonian cavies munch their carrot lunches or enter an enclosure filled with colorful parakeets.

Since taking over as zoo curator two years ago, Dr. Valitutto has brought in such animals as Patagonian cavies, a cassowary and a capybara, more than doubling the collection of animals, to 1,500.