French Police Hunt Mystery Black Felid

August 14, 2006
Boulogne-sur-mer, France • Scores of policemen, some armed with shotguns, are hunting a mysterious big black feline spotted in northern France, officers said.

The operation was launched Wednesday near the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer after several panicked people first raised the alarm on seeing what they described as a “panther” about 1.2 metres long on a popular beach.

Some 80 officers and a helicopter were immediately deployed on a search, and the beach was closed for a day, but they failed to find their quarry.

Belgian tourists and residents then reported seeing the black beast on Friday, and on Saturday people out strolling saw it in the middle of a cornfield.

“It’s a black or dark feline, fairly hefty, not very high but pretty long. It’s not a panther. It’s a big cat with at least a metre in length,” one officer said.

He added that it appeared to disappearing into forested areas, frustrating efforts to catch it or kill it.

The type and origin of the big cat was unknown. A circus in the area denied having lost any animals.

The sightings recalled those of a similar beast seen in the nearby town of Touquet in 1986 which was never found despite the efforts of 50 officers and a helicopter.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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