James Clark and his dog, Starbuck, were pulling into their friend Ted’s house when they suddenly realized they weren’t alone. Starbuck became fixated on the huge animal standing in the driveway, trying to figure out if she needed to protect her human from her. Was it a strange dog, or something else entirely?
Clark lives in Alaska and sees these big guys all the time. He snapped a photo just for fun — but when he saw the results, he couldn’t help but laugh. The animal in the photo didn’t look much like the animal she actually was. He posted the photo online, and everyone else definitely agreed. He’d accidentally captured a photo of a magical creature of some sort.
“My favorite reactions have been from people who explain what they think they saw in the photo (e.g., a seal centaur),” Clark told The Dodo.
Of course, the strange animal in the photo is actually a moose — Clark just caught her from a weird angle as she was reaching up to grab a snack.
“I grew up in Anchorage, and moose encounters here aren’t uncommon, especially in the winter when they forage for scarce food,” Clark said. “The moose in this picture was eating buds off of a birch tree.”
Even though the moose was just minding her own business, Starbuck still wasn’t a huge fan. She couldn’t quite figure out what her deal was.
“I grew up in Anchorage, and moose encounters here aren’t uncommon, especially in the winter when they forage for scarce food,” Clark said. “The moose in this picture was eating buds off of a birch tree.”
Even though the moose was just minding her own business, Starbuck still wasn’t a huge fan. She couldn’t quite figure out what her deal was.
“My dog was big mad at what she probably thought was a large doggo,” Clark said. “She growled but didn’t bark.”
Eventually, the moose moved on from the driveway into the yard and then onto other neighbors’ yards in the area. For the moose, it was a pretty uneventful day — but for Clark, he ended up with a hilarious photo that brought entertainment and joy to a whole lot of people.