"Panther" on the loose

The southern French city of Marseille called off a three-week hunt for a black panther yesterday after the animal sighted by several residents turned out to be a large house cat. "The 'panther' is just a black house cat - a very big one though," said a...

The southern French city of Marseille called off a three-week hunt for a black panther yesterday after the animal sighted by several residents turned out to be a large house cat.

"The 'panther' is just a black house cat - a very big one though," said a spokeswoman for the local prefecture, adding the animal was about 60 centimetres long and weighed some 10 kilos.

Searchers finally caught up with the animal and identified it as a cat but were still unable to catch it, the spokeswoman added.

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