Comments on: French Police Hunt Mystery Black Felid

By: Jeremy_Wells

Jeremy_Wells — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:48:05 +0000

neither the bobcat nor the lynx, that I’m aware of, have a melanistic phase (but then again, the American Mountain Lion isn’t either, but people keep seeing “black panthers” here too.)

By: irenedelse

irenedelse — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:37:35 +0000

Hello from France! It’s funny how this “big black feline” story is becoming world news
It’s the summer holidays here and there’s a tradition in the media to give more attention to “weird” but not very important news. Supposedely, people don’t want to know about serious stuff while they are on holidays. So any story about an unusual animal garners headlines. Hence the “great cat hunt” of August 2006…

In truth, this mystery animal didn’t attack anybody, so the policemen were instructed to try and catch it alive. Nobody knew in the beginning what it was (the first reports being very vague) so a few shotguns were deemed necessary in case it really was a panther or bobcat. But as no zoo or circus had lost an animal in the area, that hypothesis became rapidly less likely.

The animal was photographed 3 days ago and it’s obvious it’s not a panther or lynx, but probably a large domestic cat… and a lot of imagination on the part of the tourists who started the story!

Here’s a link to a photograph (click on the words “Agrandir l’image” to enlarge) :

The picture was taken from about 400 meters (a third of a mile) and it’s difficult to know the scale because there’s only grass apart from the animal.

By: cor2879

cor2879 — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 12:50:30 +0000

“Why would they want to kill it.”

“Isn’t it like the europeans to scream and run, then hunt down (literally) anything that doesn’t fit into their world? ”

I’m with Shumway though… why would you hunt a big cat with a shotgun? You’d about be better off with a bow and arrow. Definitely doesn’t sound big enough to be a panther… unless it’s a young one. Could be a Lynx or a Bobcat or some feline in that range. Isn’t there an African feline that is about the size of a Lynx or Bobcat?

By: twblack

twblack — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:36:12 +0000

Why would they want to kill it.

By: shumway10973

shumway10973 — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:15:21 +0000

Okay, so there is a large, black cat in france that everyone is afraid of? Has there been reports of it killing anything/one? Isn’t it like the europeans to scream and run, then hunt down (literally) anything that doesn’t fit into their world? I can understand public safety, but with the advancements in animal capturing–shotguns? Forgive me, I am a gun enthusiast, a hunter and the such, but really, if you are planning to kill this thing, you would do better with a hunting rifle. Something that doesn’t require you to be within striking range. Not large/tall enough to be a panther. How does he know? I don’t think I could make that judgement call thru binoculars, and I fancy myself a man of nature. Does that circus lose animals on a regular basis, after all it didn’t take long for the officials to look at them. So there is another group of large felines on planet earth, cool!