The city of Amarillo, Texas, took to Twitter earlier this week to ask the public for help identifying a “strange image” caught on camera outside the city’s zoo.
The image appears to be someone or something walking just beyond the zoo’s fence and looking toward the camera. The photo has baffled many people, some of whom have gone so far as to suggest the creature caught on tape could be a chupacabra, the mythical beast that is said to suck the blood of goats.
“The Amarillo Zoo captured a strange image outside the zoo in the dark and early morning hours of May 21 (around 1:25 a.m.),” the city’s official Twitter page wrote on Wednesday. “Is it a person with a strange hat who likes to walk at night? A chupacabra? Do you have any ideas of what this UAO- Unidentified Amarillo Object could be?”
The Amarillo Zoo captured a strange image outside the zoo in the dark and early morning hours of May 21 (around 1:25 a.m.). Is it a person with a strange hat who likes to walk at night? A chupacabra? Do you have any ideas of what this UAO- Unidentified Amarillo Object could be? pic.twitter.com/86Ly9ogtBT
— CityofAmarillo (@CityofAmarillo) June 9, 2022
On Friday, the city provided an update, saying there were still no solid leads on what the creature might be, ABC 7 News reported.
While the most plausible theory is that the motion-activated camera simply caught someone walking near the zoo “in a peculiar way,” some have suggested the image shows a mythical creature like the chupacabra or werewolf, and others say it’s a movie character come to life.
It's sonic the hedgehog
— neverbetter (@n3v3rb3tt3r) June 9, 2022
It’s clearly Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy! pic.twitter.com/4s13do3K6k
— Winnie Eieio (@wintig99) June 9, 2022
CBS News reported that Amarillo Parks and Recreation Department Director Michael Kashuba said the camera that took the mysterious photo is placed in an area that normally doesn’t see much foot traffic. “Nobody could figure out what it was,” Kashuba said. “And so, that’s where we decided to kind of reach out to our community to see if there was any thoughts on what it could potentially be.”
He added, “It’s just a very unique picture in a very unique location.”