Yesterday morning a stray llama was reported near Notch Road in Granby, Connecticut. Four hours later, local police posted a photo of the animal to Twitter. Their tweet was perfectly calibrated and engineered to go viral:

They were indeed not kidding, and off the tweet went—at press time it had been retweeted more than 11,000 times. If one had to develop a theory as to why this particular post one captured people’s imagination, the photo of the llama itself is a good place to start. Look at this poor animal:

The llama's face.
The llama’s face. Granby Police Department

It’s not clear what the white speck on its mouth is, but it adds to the tableau: bemused smile, wide eyes, heavy brow, pinned ears, tousled fur. According to the Hartford Courant, the llama was cared for during the period after it was on the lam. It saw a veterinarian, and was passed on to “a local resident with llama know-how.”

And, then, four hours after the post, police said the mystery was solved.

“The Llama Drama is over,” they reported in a tweet. “The animal has been reunited with its owner.”

Please try to keep track of your llamas.