Via the DCist tipline, we get this image from Irving and 14th Streets of an odd looking bear costume wearing tattered clothing and posed over a trash can. A lot of our readers are telling us this is the reason for the suspicious package alert. “Cops have the street blocked off and are standing around looking at it as of 9:30 am,” the tipster wrote. Could this be another Aqua Teen Hunger Force moment?

UPDATE 11:25 a.m.: We agree that this is most likely a Mark Jenkins piece. We’ve contacted Jenkins to confirm and will let you know when we hear back from him — hopefully he doesn’t end up stuck with a bill for the MPD’s bomb squad.

UPDATE 11:35 a.m.: Other folks tell us they think it’s this bear, seen around town recently raising some awareness about climate change and U.S. dependence on oil. Certainly seems plausible. Would that mean there’s someone inside that costume, then? It’s been variously described to us by several people who saw it as seeming like it wasn’t moving and was more like an art installation — did anyone see it move?

UPDATE 12:01 p.m. The consensus is that no person was inside the bear costume installation. Still no word back from Jenkins or any environmental groups looking to take responsibility.

UPDATE 12:20 a.m.: The bear has been deemed safe and the Metro station has reopened.