Mystery surrounds a small furry animal that was spotted wandering around a city park.
Some who bore witness to the unknown creature claimed it looked like a bear while others compared it to a fox.
One even went so far as to suggest that it was "half pig half fox" after images of the fur ball went viral online.
Local resident John was out on his daily walk when he spotted the animal on Wednesday morning, reports Manchester Evening News.
He shared a photo of the fuzzy critter after coming across it at Queen's Park in Heywood, Greater Manchester.
"Anyone know what this is?" he asked in the comments of his post which caused quite a stir on Facebook.
Hundreds of others were quick to give their opinion on what the animal was and where it came from.
"Looks like a bear," Danielle said while Denise wrote "it's a fox."
While Laura offered an unusual suggestion commenting: "It looks half pig half fox."
Another user named Stacey claimed it to be a "racoon dog" while Josh asked "is it a mink maybe?"
While the majority of people identified the animal as a bush dog which is native to Central and South America.
Racoon dogs and bush dogs are wild animals that are illegal in the UK.
The former is a member of the dog family, originating from mainland East Asia and northern Vietnam, and poses a risk to native species in Europe.
While bush dogs, also belonging to the canine family, it a very rare species in most parts of the world except Suriname, Guyana and Peru.
Native to Central and South America, the species usually lives in forests and wet savannahs.
One user Chris insisted "it's a bush dog" whose sentiments were echoed among others.
While Jennifer O'Neil chimed: "Omg it's a bush dog they are awesome.
"They have them at Yorkshire wildlife park. They don't live in the wild here though should let RSPCA know."
But some people also questioned whether the animal was in fact seen at Heywood at all.
Adam wrote "gullible people" while Maxine queried, "wind up?"
The RSPCA has been called to capture and collect stray wild dogs such as raccoon dogs that have escaped or been deliberately released to the wild.
Anybody who sees such animals are advised to contact the charity and releasing them into the wild is a punishable offence.
