For the second time in the past four months, giraffes have been spotted roaming freely in Mexico’s northern state of Coahuila, leaving authorities and residents perplexed.

The latest sighting occurred this week in the municipality of Hidalgo. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any video, but this post from early December of giraffes romping through a semi-desert area in the municipality of Sabinas has garnered thousands of online views.

The sighting was reported in the Carbonífera Region — an expansive area primarily in Coahuila that produces over 90% of Mexico’s coal — by members of the Coahuila State Police, who were on routine patrol on rural roads at the time.

Around the same time, three giraffes were also seen near Coahuila’s border with Nuevo León.

The sightings have raised questions about the regulation of exotic fauna in the region. Authorities are working to determine if someone has legal permits to keep the giraffes or if they are part of an illegal trafficking operation.

The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) has been notified to assess the health of the animals and decide on further actions.

Some speculate that the giraffes might have originated from a ranch belonging to the late businessman Chito Longoria, whose estate spanned across three Mexican states, including Coahuila. Shortly after he died in 2015, his daughter, Janette Longoria, said in an interview that their ranch had giraffes, antelopes and zebras.

However, this theory remains unconfirmed.

Some might wonder if one of the giraffes on the loose is the one that was reported missing from Culiacán Zoo in December.

However, that would be impossible, and not just because the giraffe would have had to walk over 1,000 kilometers north from the zoo. The most likely scenario, put forth by subsequent reports, is that the missing giraffe died in the zoo due to natural causes two months earlier.

Another “tall” tale covered by Mexico News Daily last year detailed the saga of Benito, a 4.3-meter (14-foot) tall giraffe who was living in deplorable conditions at a public park in Chihuahua before being transferred to a spacious safari park in Puebla.

Benito’s situation was even addressed by then president Andrés Manuel López Obrador in one of his daily mañaneras. 

Coahuila authorities are urging the public to report any further sightings of exotic species to help combat wildlife trafficking and protect both the animals and the local ecosystem.

The presence of giraffes in Coahuila’s arid lands has raised concerns about their health and survival.

With reports from La Voz, N+, GM Noticias, Posta, El Coahuilense and MX Vanguard