Mystery big cat caught on video

AUTHORITIES are investigating a rash of big cat sightings in the south of France

A spokesman for the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence said: “We are studying all hypotheses, including that of a big cat and that of a black panther.”

The national office for hunting and wild animals has set up a trap near a village where the beast was spotted, but hunters have been ordered not to shoot it.

Several sightings have been reported over a few months: the cat has been spotted drinking from a swimming pool, crossing a road and sleeping in a bush.

Footprints of 10cm diameter have been discovered in the hills near the village of Oraison.

According to a specialist interviewed in the local newspaper La Provence the footprints “are indeed the tracks of a big cat.”

La Provence has obtained video footage of one sighting, although it does not make the most convincing case for a panther.

One witness, truck driver Patrick Demol told Le Figaro: “It was not just a wild cat, I'm sure. I saw it on a small road in the country. I was driving and I must have scared it with the noise of the truck. It bounded and hid in the woods nearby. It was beautiful.”

Photo: Could the animal look something like this? (Black Panther image by Qilinmon/Wikimedia Commons)