By Tim Binnall
Fears that an escaped lion could be roaming around the Irish countryside turned out to be unfounded when authorities located the creature in question and discovered that it was actually a shaved dog. According to a local media report, the amusing case of mistaken animal identity began when footage (seen above) of what was thought to be a big cat entering a forest in County Clare appeared online. "The animal had been seen before by harvesters working on the site, but it was from a distance, moving through the trees," local wildlife official John O'Reilly explained, indicating that witnesses had suspected it was a deer until a trucker captured the video that went viral over the weekend.
As one might imagine, the possible presence of a presumably escaped lion caught the attention of Irish police, who promptly launched an investigation into the matter. Their subsequent search for the creature turned out to be short-lived as, in a social media post on Tuesday, authorities revealed that the situation had a far less frightening explanation. "The recent video of a 'lion-like' animal roaming around the woods in East Clare is in fact the very friendly 'Mouse,' a Newfoundland dog who is delighted with his recent viral video clip," they wrote, sharing photos of the peculiar-looking pooch that had briefly been mistaken for a big cat.