D.C. doesn’t have a great reputation for correctly recognizing wild cats caught on camera (no, that’s not a mountain lion in your backyard). But this time the experts have weighed in, and it’s true: There’s a bobcat in our midst.

Or there was in November, anyway. That’s when cameras with the D.C. Cat Count captured the animal’s likeness near the C&O Canal, abutting Georgetown. It’s an unprecedented sighting of a wild bobcat so near the city.

“This is highly unusual,” says Dan Herrera, D.C. Cat Count field technician with the Humane Rescue Alliance. “We do not know of any reproductive populations of bobcats in the area. The closest verified sighting is about 45 miles from here.”

Herrera and other wildlife experts are perplexed by the cat’s presence. It’s impossible to know for sure exactly what the creature is doing here, though Herrera offers up a few theories. It could be a male bobcat scouting out new territory and searching for mates, he says, but even that explanation is strange: The photo was captured in November, months earlier than a typical bobcat mating season.

The cat could also have been homed in on a particular animal it wanted to eat. “They’re extremely patient animals and they’ve been known to stalk prey for up to seven miles,” Herrera says. But 45 miles? Less likely. The bobcat was, however, spotted in an area of town flush with eastern cottontail rabbits, which are bobcats’ main prey. (Perhaps the cat heard about the glut of rabbits via the drama on the Tenleytown listserv?).

It’s not clear if the animal was simply stopping by for a visit or if it’s staking claim to a new territory, Herrera says. They’ll be keeping an eye on the cat count cameras for any further sightings.

Bobcats (which, as adults, generally range from 20-30 pounds) aren’t usually aggressive toward people, but Herrera says it’s still best for humans to keep themselves (and their pets) at a distance. Dogs should be kept leashed, and cats should be indoors or in an outdoor “catio” where they’ll be safe from predators, he says. Also, if you happen to see a bobcat-shaped shadow in your yard in the middle of the night, rest assured that you’re probably mistaken: The creatures are mostly active at dawn and dusk.

Despite the unusual nature of this sighting, this actually isn’t the first time a bobcat has been on the loose in Northwest. In 2017, Ollie, a bobcat and resident of the National Zoo, escaped from her enclosure and briefly went on the run. Keepers found her in a trap a few hours later.

Bobcats also aren’t the only interesting animal to appear on the cat count cameras (which, as their name implies, are meant to capture the number of domestic cats in the city, as well as their habits and behavior). There have been many a cute fox, deer, and even a beaver—take a look for yourself.