Beaverton Police said Saturday they are not looking for a baby giraffe despite reports one had escaped in a rural area.

A Craigslist entry posted just after midnight Saturday claimed that a giraffe had escaped from its owners on the south side of Cooper Mountain.

The "owners" said they suspected "Raffi" headed downhill towards vineyards, as he loves grapes.

"At this age, they are easily mistaken for a deer or even a llama, as nobody expects to see a giraffe in Beaverton," the Craigslist post said, encouraging anyone who saw him to call 9-1-1.

The post featured a photo that appears in coverage of a baby giraffe birth in New York earlier this year.

Neither the Washington County Sheriff's Office nor the Beaverton Police Department could confirm the incident, and said they hadn't heard from anyone claiming to have lost a giraffe.

"If it was in the city limits of Beaverton, I'm pretty sure it would not be legal," said Jeremy Shaw, spokesman for Beaverton Police.

Despite social media reports we are not serching for a baby giraffe. They are cute and we would search for one if they were missing. JMS pic.twitter.com/BylDyKPm7X — Beaverton Police (@BeavertonPolice) September 2, 2017

News outlets including The Oregonian reported the story of the alleged missing giraffe before further reporting raised questions about its authenticity.

Portland-area residents aren't strangers to news of large and exotic animals roaming the region. In 2015, an oryx was caught after spending a day wandering through Forest Park.

And the area is home to a number of exotic animal parks and sanctuaries, including the WildCat Haven Sanctuary in Sherwood and Canby's A Walk on the Wild Side, which houses large cats, reptiles and farm animals.

-- Anna Marum