French Town Fears Stray Tiger Roaming Gardens
Posted Fri Jul 20, 2007
A village's mayor says police are searching for a big cat, possibly a young tiger, that has been spotted prowling in south-western France.
Officials from the National Hunting Office have also laid traps for the animal after a woman and her daughter saw it repeatedly in their garden.
"At first they didn't believe it, but the third time the animal was 10 metres away from them," said Pierre Soubabere, mayor of Saint-Louis-de-Montferrand.
Another resident has seen the cat roaming the countryside, and its tracks suggest it is a young tiger, though it could be a jaguar or a leopard.
Mr Soubabere said no such animal had been reported missing in the area, not even by circuses that spend part of the year in a neighbouring town.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/20/1984409.htm: 20th July 2007