A strange-looking creature that was spotted happily trotting around train tracks in Oregon left even wildlife experts mystified.
Richard Melling and his wife were taking a morning walk across Sellwood Bridge in Portland earlier this month when they noticed the animal in the distance.
Melling told OregonLive: ‘It definitely looked wild and it looked like a puppy. It was like a very, very happy puppy.’
But after taking a closer look, he realized the creature was not a dog and took out his phone to record a video in the hope they could identify it later.
However, even wildlife experts struggled to pinpoint exactly what the animal was until they eventually caught it a week later and determined it was an arctic fox.
A strange-looking creature spotted happily trotting around train tracks in Oregon left wildlife experts mystified
In Melling’s video taken from about 40 feet away, a tiny white fox-like animal with a long tail and skinny legs could be seen prancing around train tracks.
It sniffed along the ground as if it was looking for something before scampering off.
Melling told OregonLive: ‘It was having fun, and it was amusing. It was just a very interesting thing to find.’
Experts later concluded that the animal must be a fox – but struggled to determine what type from the pictures.
Oregon Department of Wildlife biologist Benjamin Cate wrote in an email shared with OregonLive: ‘Honestly, we’re not 100 percent sure about it.
The white fox trotted around while Portland resident Richard Melling and his wife filmed it
Several experts agreed the animal was a fox but could not determine what type
‘This animal looks closer to an arctic fox than any fox native to our area. It is potentially some kind of hybrid animal that escaped from captivity, however we can’t 100% rule out that it is a wild leucistic (white) gray fox either,’ he continued.
A leucistic fox would mean it has less pigmentation in its skin and fur than normal, giving it a pale appearance.
However Cate also told OregonLive that this coloration is more common in red foxes than gray – yet added the creature’s ears and snout were not typical for a red fox.
He added that the animal looked young and was ‘certainly rare’.
Jennifer Osburn Eliot, who oversees the North America area of the Oregon Zoo, told OPB: ‘I can tell you that we have gray foxes in Oregon, red foxes (most but not all are invasive), and there are people that have pet foxes (which may or may not be legal).
‘I have never heard of an arctic fox this far south.’
It was not until the lost animal was later picked up by a good Samaritan and taken to a shelter that experts were able to determine it was in fact an arctic fox.
Artic foxes are not typically found in Portland and usually live in far colder regions such as Alaska, Greenland and Iceland
The fox was thin, weighing just 6.5 pounds, and was dehydrated when it was rescued
The fox was nursed back to health at the Bird Alliance of Oregon Wildlife Care Center
It is believed the fox accidentally escaped captivity or was dumped by its owner.
Bird Alliance of Oregon Wildlife Care Center spokesperson Ali Berman told KOIN 6 News: ‘While we don’t have information yet on where the Arctic fox came from, or how she got to Portland, we believe the animal has only known a life of captivity.
‘The fox doesn’t show a species appropriate fear response to people and was actually approaching humans when rescued’.
Due to this, the fox will not be released back into the wild.
An unidentified man was seen walking a fox that looked like the animal Melling saw in a nearby park
The fox was thin, weighing just 6.5 pounds, and was dehydrated when it was rescued, the outlet reported.
Artic foxes are not typically found in Portland and usually live in far colder regions such as Alaska, Greenland and Iceland. It does not have the skills to survive outside of this habitat.
One social media user shared a photo of a man walking a fox on a leash at the Sellwood Riverfront Park near the area Melling and his wife saw the white fox and asked: ‘Gotta be the same one?’ However, this was not confirmed.
