MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - The southern French city of Marseille called off a three-week hunt for a black panther on Tuesday after the animal sighted by several residents turned out to be a large house cat.
"The 'panther' is just a black house cat -- a very big one though," said a spokeswoman for the local prefecture, adding the animal was about 24 inches long and weighed some 22 pounds.
Police deployed dozens of searchers this month after reports that a blank panther was roaming around the nearby Calanques area, popular with tourists for its creeks, rocks and beaches.
Searchers finally caught up with the animal and identified it as a cat but were still unable to catch it, the spokeswoman added.

REUTERS, Tue Jun 22,10:10 AM ET

P.S. Должен ли я даже шутить о французах?...
P.P.S. Пантера ушла непобежденной, никаких сообщений о потерях среди личного состава полиции.

P.P.P.S. 24 дюйма - это 60 сантиметров, 22 паунда (фунта?) - это 10 килограмм.