Oyen now faces a rival.
Most Malaysians are likely acquainted with the renowned Oyen, who has made a home with a group of capybaras in their exhibit at Zoo Negara.
The Zoo Negara team made it official last month, installing a placard under the enclosure’s sign to acknowledge Oyen’s tenancy.
Competitor invading
Yet, it appears Oyen might not be the sole feline making the capybara enclosure its home.
Masyita Ahmad Shaza, a cat enthusiast, shared a video on her TikTok channel two days prior after a visit to the capybara exhibit at Zoo Negara.
She first captured footage of the roaming capybaras and Oyen, casually lounging beside a structure within the pen.
“How dare you sleeping in my territory”
To her astonishment, Masyita then shifted her camera to reveal another cat, just a few feet from Oyen, comfortably settled within the enclosure too.
The cat, colored white and brown, seemed to be having a peaceful nap, then simply remained tranquil and relaxed.
Masyita humorously labeled the white and brown cat “si ompok” (the spotted one) in a caption, jokingly suggesting that Oyen was taken aback by the arrival of this rival.
At the time of this writing, the video has amassed over 100,000 views, and numerous Malaysians expressed their surprise at the sight of another cat inhabiting the capybara enclosure.
Many TikTok users, joking in the comments, proposed that Zoo Negara should consider launching a cat exhibit.
Another TikToker joked, “It might just be the capybaras that need to move enclosures… let Oyen and his kind stay put…”
One user wrote, “Is this an attempt to overthrow Oyen’s reign?”
Many commenters joked about the situation, with one user suggesting, “If Zoo Negara has plans to build a cat park, we the people are ready to contribute.”
As more cats seem to adopt the enclosure as their home, one user humorously personified the capybaras’ possible confusion, saying, “The capybaras must be thinking, ‘Is this enclosure meant for us or the cats? Why are there more cats every day?'”
