Macomb County, Michigan - A man recently drove around with what looked to be a dead giraffe in the back of a pick-up truck. Pictures posted online of the strange incident caused confusion and led to a statement from the driver.

"My buddy was on his way home from work and saw what appears to be a real deceased giraffe in the bed of someone's truck," wrote Nathan Schemansky in a now-deleted post on Facebook.

"Does anyone know anything about this? Is it even real lol."

The post was shared in various groups, with some users expressing outrage over the dead exotic animal, which is not native to the US.

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Had the poor giraffe been hunted and killed recently? And how did it get to North America?

The outcry led to taxidermist Darren Wehner setting the record straight and sharing behind-the-scenes photos of his work on the long-necked animal.

He told Fox 2 that the animal had died of old age in a zoo and that he had been commissioned by an unnamed museum to prepare the giraffe.

"My job is to preserve them so you can appreciate them forever," he said, adding that by the time he received the giraffe, it was "no different than leather... with hair on it."

"Some people may find it strange or different, but to me, it's art," he added.