How can the Pas-de-Calais Puma survive in freedom for a month

• Since October 13, a big feline has been roaming free in Pas-de-Calais.

• Despite significant research resources, it remains elusive.

• A feline specialist from the Amnéville zoo explains to

  20 Minutes

  how such an animal can survive in this environment.

Catch Me If You Can. Since last October 13, an animal described as a "big feline" by the authorities has made part of Pas-de-Calais its territory. Intensely sought after by gendarmes, lieutenants of louveterie, hunters and officials of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), the beast remains elusive. But how to explain that such an animal manages to survive in an ecosystem so far from its natural environment? To try to understand this mystery,

contacted Joanna Salé, the big cat specialist at the Amnéville zoo, near Metz, in the Grand-Est.

The big feline, which could be a puma, was observed for the first time in mid-October, near Auxi-le-Château, in Pas-de-Calais.

He then made fleeting appearances which in particular allowed the gendarmes to photograph him using a thermal camera on board a helicopter.

However, attempts to capture it or to "take" it have been unsuccessful.

The gendarmerie confirmed to

Tuesday that the big cat had disappeared from radar and that no animal attack had been recorded.

How can such an animal survive in Pas-de-Calais?

It really depends on the character of the animal.

Some felines will keep an instinct that will allow them to hunt and others will be very scared.

If he has been hand raised, it may be difficult for him to cope on his own.

He shouldn't be afraid of humans and easily approach them because that's his only landmark.

If he was raised a little by his mother and kept the fear of man, he will be able to manage.

What can this big feline eat?

He will have to hunt down birds, small rodents or a little bigger animals if there is forest.

The size of the prey it will attack depends on its size.

An adult puma can hunt game very well.

If he is really hungry and is pushed to his limits, this is where he can become dangerous.

He will go to the simplest and look for easy prey like sheep.

How to explain that we still have not been able to catch it?

It is not like a dog or a cat in terms of affection, which explains why it has not returned to its owner.

He may also have been mistreated and be content with freedom.

It is an animal that smells and hears very well.

If he is afraid, at the slightest approach, he will hide.

He is not going to walk in the open, unless he is really hungry.

There he will try things that he would not instinctively do and which could allow him to be captured.

It seems very complicated to capture it

Indeed.

With a hypodermic gun, it's complicated.

You have to get close enough because you can't aim anywhere.

And the animal does not immediately fall asleep.

If injured, the animal can become dangerous to humans even if it is not at all in its nature.

The best way is to attract him to food.

We can put prey in cages, the trick is to know in which sector it is.

A puma, for example, can travel long distances, but urbanization can contain it.

Planet

Pas-de-Calais: Can we do otherwise than kill the puma in freedom?

Miscellaneous

Pas-de-Calais: The "big cat" will be shot if it cannot be caught

• Animals

• Puma

• Planet