Mystery cat puts France on high alert

PARIS — A big, wild cat eluding 200 police and military forces near Disneyland Paris is not a tiger, French authorities said Friday – but they don’t know exactly what it is.

The creature popped up near a supermarket, crossed a major highway, slinked past a gas station and sent regional officials into high alert.

The administration for the Seine-et-Marne region had announced Thursday that authorities were searching for a tiger on the loose.

But in a statement Friday afternoon, the administration said “the presence of an animal of the tiger species has proven to be excluded.” The statement was based on analysis by government wild animal experts of the animal’s tracks.

It said the animal is a feline but they are still trying to determine its species. The hunting office could not be reached for comment.

The animal’s origins remain a mystery.

Some 200 police, military officers and others are still searching for it.

Some tweets suggested that the tracks belonged to a big dog, not a cat, but the head of the Paris regional Wolfcatcher Society, Robert Picaud, said, “It is clear that here is a feline walking around.”