It’s been more than two years since a security camera at the Amarillo Zoo recorded what appeared to be a mysterious creature standing just outside its fence.
Word of the creature, later dubbed the “Unidentified Amarillo Object,” quickly spread, claiming stake in national news time and stories — and the conspiracy theories started rolling.
Two years later, the mystery remains
The Unidentified Amarillo Object was spotted outside the Amarillo Zoo on May 21, 2022, but it didn’t make its news debut until early June when the city published a news release asking for the public’s health.
“For now, the strange visitor is a UAO – Unidentified Amarillo Object. However, perhaps Amarillo has a better explanation,” the city wrote. “However, perhaps Amarillo has a better explanation. In the spirit of fun if not curiosity, the City of Amarillo is letting the public offer ideas on the identity of the UAO.”
Of course, that invited tens of thousands of comments on social media and news stories. Some of the theories:
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“A person with a strange hat who likes to walk at night”
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“A large coyote on its hind legs”
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The chupacabra, the mythical creature that’s said to feast on livestock
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An alien
To help resolve the Amarillo incident, Wyze, a Seattle-based company specializing in smart home products and wireless cameras, offered to donate 80 Wyze Cam v3 cameras to the zoo.
“Like many on social media, we saw the picture of the Unidentified Amarillo Object near the Amarillo Zoo,” said Dave Crosby, co-founder and chief marketing officer for Wyze. “Was it an alien? An animal? A human in a costume? The world is curious.”
It’s not clear if the zoo accepted the offer, and there have been no signs of the creature’s return since it went viral two years ago.
Neither the city nor the zoo have provided any further comments since the event
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Two years later, no clear answers to Amarillo Zoo’s mystery ‘creature’
