Incredible video of mysterious ‘hybrid’ beast that left wildlife experts baffled

A strange-looking creature happily trotting along the train tracks in Oregon left even wildlife experts baffled.

Richard Melling and his wife were taking a morning walk across Portland’s Sellwood Bridge earlier this month when they noticed the animal in the distance.

Melling said OregonLive: ‘It looked absolutely wild and it looked like a puppy. He seemed like a very, very happy puppy.”

But after taking a closer look, he realized the creature wasn’t a dog and took out his phone to record a video in hopes they could identify it later.

However, even wildlife experts had trouble pinpointing exactly what the animal was until they finally caught it a week later and determined it was an Arctic fox.

In Melling’s video, taken about 40 feet away, a small white fox-like animal with a long tail and skinny legs could be seen jumping around on the train tracks.

He sniffed the ground as if looking for something before running away.

Melling told OregonLive: ‘It was fun and funny. It was just really interesting to find.”

Experts later concluded that the animal must be a fox, but had difficulty determining what type it was from the photos.

Oregon Department of Wildlife biologist Benjamin Cate wrote in an email shared with OregonLive: “Honestly, we’re not 100 percent sure.

The white fox scampered around as Portland resident Richard Melling and his wife filmed it

Several experts agreed that the animal was a fox, but could not determine which type

‘This animal looks more like an arctic fox than any fox in our area. It may be some kind of hybrid animal that escaped from captivity, but we also cannot 100% rule out that it is a wild leucistic (white) gray fox,” he continued.

A leucistic fox would mean that it has less pigmentation in its skin and fur than normal, making it appear pale.

However, Cate also told OregonLive that this color is more common in red foxes than gray ones, but added that the creature’s ears and snout were not typical of a red fox.

He added that the animal looked young and was “certainly rare.”

Jennifer Osburn Eliot, who oversees the Oregon Zoo’s North American area, said OPB: ‘I can tell you that we have gray foxes in Oregon, red foxes (most, but not all, are invasive), and there are people who have foxes as pets (which may or may not be legal).

“I’ve never heard of an arctic fox this far south.”

It was only when the lost animal was later retrieved by a Good Samaritan and taken to a sanctuary that experts were able to determine that it was in fact an Arctic fox.

Arctic foxes are not typically found in Portland and tend to live in much colder regions such as Alaska, Greenland and Iceland

The fox was skinny, weighing only 6.5 pounds, and was dehydrated when he was rescued

The fox was nursed back to health at the Bird Alliance of Oregon Wildlife Care Center

It is believed that the fox accidentally escaped from captivity or was dumped by its owner.

Bird Alliance of Oregon Wildlife Care Center spokesperson Ali Berman said KOIN 6 News: ‘While we don’t yet have any information about where the Arctic fox came from, or how it ended up in Portland, we believe it only knew life in captivity.

“The fox does not show any sort of appropriate fear response to humans and was in fact approaching humans when it was rescued.”

As a result, the fox will no longer be released into the wild.

An unknown man was seen walking with a fox that resembled the animal Melling saw in a nearby park

The fox was thin, weighed only 6.5 pounds, and was dehydrated when it was rescued, the newspaper reported.

Arctic foxes are generally not found in Portland and tend to live in much colder regions such as Alaska, Greenland and Iceland. He does not have the skills to survive outside this habitat.

A social media user shared a photo of a man walking with a fox on a leash in Sellwood Riverfront Park, near the area where Melling and his wife saw the white fox, and asked, “Should it be the same?” However, this was not confirmed.