An alpaca walks into a French optician's...

An alpaca has confused and delighted residents of a small French town after wandering into an optician's shop.

The fuzzy creature spent half an hour quietly browsing lenses in the town of Hennebont in Brittany.

Employees closed the doors to stop it fleeing before calling the police.

While they initially thought it had escaped from a nearby circus, authorities found the private owner who came to pick up the wayward animal shortly afterwards.

Staff at Les Opticiens Mutualistes on Hennebont's Rue Nationale first saw the alpaca wandering outside late on Friday morning.

"We saw him walk past the shop, he stopped in front of the automatic doors that opened, and he walked in very quietly," employee Helene told Le Telegramme newspaper.

"He was not at all aggressive, he was just doing his thing."

The four staff members locked up the shop for fear the animal could run into the streets and cause an accident, before calling the authorities.

Within half an hour the owner - who wished to remain anonymous - had arrived to collect the alpaca.

It seems to have wandered off a private lot nearby.

The newspaper Ouest France first reported the story and claimed it was a llama.

However, other newspapers have since said it is in fact an alpaca.

Llamas have long, banana shaped ears, while alpacas are smaller and furrier than their Andean counterparts.