A large feline has been free in Pas-de-Calais for a week.
The extensive research to capture it has yet to yield anything.
Voices are raised to protest against the slaughter of the feline authorized by the prefect.
After a week of intensive research in the Auxi-le-Château sector, in Pas-de-Calais, the big cat, spotted last Wednesday, remains elusive.
The difficulty of capturing the animal, identified as a puma, and its potential dangerousness motivated the prefect of the department to issue a decree on Friday authorizing its removal, in other words, the gendarmes and lieutenants of the weaver can kill it.
The prefect justifies his decision by protecting the population and the lack of information on the animal's behavior.
He had, however, appealed to the owner of the feline to deliver, on condition of anonymity, enough information to allow its capture.
In vain.
A very popular petition
In the process, a petition was launched on the Internet demanding "justice and respect for the puma auxilois".
This already brings together nearly 45,000 signatures, one of the most popular on the Change.org site.
What to call into question the radical solution prescribed by the prefect who speaks from now on "possible operations of firing of samples".
On social networks, many Internet users are urging the authorities to capture the puma using a hypodermic syringe gun.
A delicate operation, especially since it cannot be practiced, according to the prefecture, beyond a distance of 20 m.
Improbable therefore, no one has yet been able to approach it so closely.
"In an open space, outside the enclosure, the use of the hypodermic rifle is difficult", recognizes the Deputy Director of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Christophe Marie.
A combination of methods to capture it
However, still according to the foundation, other solutions exist.
"The combination of several methods, net, cage / trap, hypodermic rifle, must make capture possible", explains the deputy director.
His organization also offers its help to the prefecture, in particular by making experts available and finding a solution for the post-capture period.
For now, the puma is still free and is doing well.
And it is not really a miracle, the animal being known for its discretion.
In the rocky mountains of the United States, its natural environment, it is also nicknamed the "ghost of the Rockies".
Director Bruno Loisel also paid the price for this feline talent.
It took him years to gather the evidence of the presence of a puma in Gévaudan, all compiled in two documentaries broadcast on Arte.
According to him, other convincing testimonies attest to the presence of pumas elsewhere in France.
Planet
DRC: Mugaruka, the famous 35-year-old gorilla from Kahuzi-Biega park, has died
Planet
Bird trapping: Traditional hunts authorized despite the advice of the Council of State
Animals
Puma
Planet