The (very big) cat and mouse game.
A "big cat" is currently wanted in Pas-de-Calais, reports La Voix du Nord.
The animal would have been seen for the first time by a resident on Wednesday October 13 in the evening, in the vicinity of Auxi-le-Château (Pas-de-Calais), according to the regional daily.
The beast was then seen by about twenty gendarmes who launched searches but they lost its trace.
“Research resumed Thursday morning, mobilizing around twenty people.
Several police patrols beat the countryside, assisted by firefighters, veterinarians and teams of the louveterie ”, indicates La Voix du Nord.
Glimpsed at # AuxiLeChâteau, in #PasDeCalais, a big feline is actively sought.
The gendarmerie calls for caution https://t.co/FUKjz9Tors
- News Pas-de-Calais (@ActuPasdecalais) October 14, 2021
Police went door-to-door to urge residents to be careful.
"It is estimated that it is an animal that does not fear humans and does not flee homes," said the gendarmerie, according to which "armed forces" could be deployed to protect the population.
A juvenile feline
The gendarmes are supported by the services of the French Biodiversity Office to track the animal and "try to determine its area of development", but also "its exact species" thanks to its traces and excrement.
“We are not sure whether it is a lion or a lioness.
But it is sure that it is a big feline ", we told AFP, while La Voix du Nord speaks, for its part, of" a juvenile feline, which could be a tiger or a lion ”
.
No zoo or circus are yet established in the region, according to the gendarmerie, which rather considers the hypothesis of a "new pet (NAC) undeclared".
