By Tim Binnall
A suspected puma sighting by a hunter in Germany triggered a massive police response that has yet to locate the elusive big cat. The remarkable encounter reportedly occurred on Tuesday evening at the Notzinger Moos nature reserve near the Munich Airport. The hunter who stumbled upon the sizeable creature captured compelling footage of the animal (featured in the video above) with a night-vision camera and promptly alerted police to the presence of the mysterious beast.
Believing the creature to be a big cat, possibly a puma, based on an expert's analysis of the footage, concerned authorities launched a rather extensive search of the area on Wednesday. While several officers looked for the animal within the reserve, they were aided by a helicopter and drones that also tried to find the suspected feline in the forest. When the effort came up short, authorities dispatched dogs to sniff out the big cat the following day, but again the search turned up no sign of the creature seen in the hunter's footage.
At a Thursday press conference, a local government official indicated that authorities had received more than two dozen tips from the public, with a handful being deemed worthy of investigation. Conversely, in an unfortunate sign of the times, police lamented that they have also received a bevy of AI-generated images from mischievous pranksters. Adding another layer to the mystery, authorities are uncertain where the big cat may have originated, as there are no reports of any such missing animals from nearby zoos or circuses, suggesting that the creature could be an escaped exotic pet.