Police want to speak to the owner for endangering others and also to find out where they got the animal from, while wildlife officials want to know what conditions the panther was being held in.Ī police source said that only a zoo would be able to obtain a permit to keep such an animal. Its owner meanwhile is being sought by the French authorities. It has since been transferred onwards to an as yet unannounced destination, according to reports.
However the animal was not aggressive, the girl's mother Sylvie said.Īfter its capture the panther was put in a cage and handed over to government wildlife officials, who in turn handed it on to the Animal Protection League to stay overnight.
Its claws had been clipped and it was in good health.īefore its capture it had descended stairs in the building and entered an apartment belonging to a family whose 15-year-old daughter was at home - and fled upon seeing the panther walk into the room. It had been domesticated by its owner and was not at all aggressive, he said. The animal, weighing about 20kg, is about five or six months old and the size of a small Labrador dog, Kader Laghouati from the Animal Protection League organisation in Lille told reporters. Police made a cordon in case it jumped, while rescuers entered the building calmly so as not to shock the big cat.Ī vet was then able to tranquilise it with a dart.
