A black panther was spotted prowling rooftops in a town in northern France.
Firefighters said they received a call around 6pm local time on Wednesday to reports of a large feline wandering on the gutter of a residential building in Armentières, a town close to the French border with Belgium.
Photos taken after the fire brigade’s arrival captured the panther making itself at home above ground, perching on building ledges and pacing outside a closed window.
After firefighters secured a precautionary perimeter, the curious cat burglar slipped inside a house and workers trapped it.
The animal was put to sleep with a drug dart and put in a cage and hand over to government wildlife officials, who in turn handed it on to the Animal Protection League to stay overnight, according to La Voix du Nord.
The animal, which wildlife experts believe was about six-months old, was being kept as a pet and got out through an open window while its owner was on holiday, Agence France-Presse reported.
Its owner meanwhile is being sought by the French authorities. Police want to speak to the owner for endangering others and also to find out where they got the animal from, while wildlife officials want to know what conditions the panther was being held in.
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