Panther Strikes
A BRIT living in France has claimed a close encounter with a black panther.
Gary Newman, 45, says the big cat pounced as he walked his Border collie Betty alongside an old canal near Paris.
He told yesterday how he dived into waist-deep mud to escape the beast – which chased the dog away.
It took him an hour to climb out of the freezing quagmire.
Betty eventually found her way back home two miles away.
Gary, who has lived in France with his family for 12 years, said: “I knew there was a panther in the woods so I’d been walking the dog by the canal instead. I heard it was from a circus.
“It was about the size of a German shepherd dog.”
Daily Star on Sunday: 25th November 2007
