Scores of police officers patrolled a small town west of the French capital on Thursday night after a tiger eluded a massive search and remained on the prowl in the region near Disneyland Paris.
The small beast was spotted on Thursday morning near a parking lot in Montevrain by a woman who took a photograph of it. Still on the loose by nightfall, some began to doubt whether it really was a tiger.
The Parc des Felins, a wild cat animal park 29km from Montevrain, said none of its cats were missing. EuroDisney, the operator of Disneyland Paris, a top tourist destination in Europe, went out of its way to say that the theme park has no tigers.
However, authorities remained on alert.
Montevrain said 100 police officers would patrol the town of less than 10,000 overnight and the search for the animal was due to begin anew yesterday. However, a helicopter with infrared equipment would continue combing the area on Thursday night, said Cedric Tartaud, top aide to the mayor.
“We ask you for the greatest prudence,” Montevrain told its residents on the town’s Facebook page.
Entrances to the town’s schools were also being guarded ahead of yesterday’s classes.
Nearly 200 police officers, gendarmes, rescuers with tranquilizing guns and a specially trained dog searched the area on Thursday. Authorities urged people in Montevrain, nearby Chessy and Chalifert, to stay indoors, while children were escorted home from school.
The animal was spotted about 8:30am by the wife of supermarket manager Jean-Baptiste Berdeaux, who told BFM-TV she initially thought it was a lynx. She took the photograph of it standing on a ridge above a parking lot.
An examination of a muddy footprint showed it was a tiger weighing about 70kg and about one-and-a-half years old, Montevrain spokesman Clement Joly said.
However, by nightfall on Thursday top officials were no longer using the word “tiger.”
“All forces are mobilized to capture this animal,” Montevrain Mayor Christiani Robache told BFM-TV.
The under-prefect for the Seine-et-Marne region, Frederic MacKain, said the fuzzy photo “leads us to believe it’s the silhouette of a feline.”
The wooded region dotted with small towns provides abundant cover for any wild animal to hide.
Montevrain sent out a news alert on its Facebook page on Thursday, saying a young tiger was spotted in the brush behind tennis courts and a soccer field about 9km from Disneyland Paris.
However, officials at the theme park said no special precautions were taken on Thursday inside the park because the loose animal was not deemed a threat.
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