"The mystery of the existence of a great panther in Guadalajara has been solved," says the Civil Guard
Rumours of a black panther roaming around Guadalajara, Spain, terrified residents for weeks. According to local reports, the rumours were fueled by numerous sightings of a large black animal roaming the thirty kilometer area that separates Atienza from Jadraque. However, it has now come to light that the 'panther' is nothing but a big, black, shaggy dog.
On January 23, a video that appeared to show the panther went viral and convinced locals there was a big cat on the loose.
The Civil Guard launched an investigation and announced that the reports stemmed from sightings of a very different animal - a black dog.
A few hours ago, they took to Twitter to share grainy pictures of the dog in question.
"A patrol of Seprona managed to take pictures of a feral dog of big dimensions," they wrote in the tweet:
El misterio de la existencia de una gran pantera en tierras de #Guadalajara ha sido resuelto.
Una patrulla del #Seprona logr tomar imgenes de un perro asilvestrado de grandes dimensiones de color negro, caractersticas dadas por los vecinos que vieron al animal. pic.twitter.com/nWT70V89H1
Not everyone, however, is convinced that the Civil Guard has identified the right animal. Some are convinced that there's still a panther on the loose.
"The animal there seems to have upright ears, shorter tail and bigger snout," writes one person.
A ver, que no es negar por negar, ah de entrada el animal tiene las orejas enhiestas, la cola ms corta, parece mayor el hocico... pic.twitter.com/lQ58eTSDaD
Agustn Lpez, director of biology at the Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, believes the presence of a large cat in the area is "possible," adding that it could have escaped from an illegal private collection, reports Euro Weekly.