Hoaxes propagated by zoos are not new. Chinese zoos have repeatedly passed off painted dogs as pandas. And, it’s become a gimmick now for zoos to publicize that they have a mystery creature sighting. The latest is from the Bristol Zoo in England. This week, they posted a trail cam pic of a “mystery animal” seen around the zoo. The photo is that of an edited muntjac deer with wings and a single swirled horn.

The aim is to get people sharing the post and to come to the zoo for a post-summer visit. That’s all great and I love it. Clearly, it’s for fun. Unfortunately, in today’s internet climate, there will be those people who take it seriously or out of context.

There are hundreds of photos circulated on social media showing real animals tagged with the wrong location (big cats like “black panthers” are possibly the most common). Photoshopped or AI images flood facebook, TikTok, etc. Sadly, some will willingly believe these creatures are real while the rest of us just chuckle, roll (eyes) and scroll.

The zoo cryptid ploy took off thanks to the Amarillo zoo mystery photo of May 2022.

The photo caused a social media stir by appealing to a favorite Internet pastime – speculating wildly over a blurry photo. According to what was stated by the zoo, a security photo along the perimeter fence line captured an unusual-looking figure at 1:25 AM. But that’s it – that’s all we got. The photo had no scale, no daytime photo to compare, no attempt to recreate the photo, just a news release two weeks later asking for people to opine on what it could be. And, boy, did they. The creature was suggested to be a chupacabra, a dogman, or a werewolf. Other ideas were Sonic the hedgehog, Anubis, Crash Bandicoot, a Furry trying to break into the zoo, a person in a cowboy hat, a jackrabbit jumping away from the camera, a person carrying a raccoon (or a were-raccoon).

I do hope they were just being silly but some people have a less than adequate grasp on reality. It seems like that it was something normal captured in an unusual way, such as a coyote blurred by movement due to the slow shutter speed. It is also likely that this was a real photo that was used out of context for attention. The zoo knew this would get attention. There was no effort to made to explain it, which was a shame, because it was all about going viral and getting outrageous comments. I’m all for fun news but it stinks when it’s delivered in such a dumb way.

Other zoos saw how great it was for business to say that a strange animal was seen and that none of the zoo staff could identify it (wink, wink). Shortly after the Amarillo media success, the San Antonio zoo tried the same by replacing the Amarillo creature with their hippo. Not many people seem to be falling for the reality of a winged, horned deer, but certain paranormal-themed sites, like Coast to Coast AM run their weird science stories right alongside the obviously ridiculous stuff. There will be some people…

If you see your local zoo promoting cryptids, particularly around Halloween time, send me a tip!

For more on cryptids, visit my other blog Modern Cryptozoology. There is a new post about the awesome and beloved (hoaxed) mascot of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, the Hodag.

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