A tiger remained on the loose near Paris early today after firefighters and police called off the search for the night following a fruitless all-day hunt, with worried residents told to stay indoors.
A local woman sounded the alarm the morning of the previous day after spotting the fearsome animal in a supermarket car park in the town of Montevrain - just a stone's throw from Disneyland Paris.
Several more people later came forward saying they had seen the tiger on the prowl.
Backed up by a helicopter, more than 100 police officers and firefighters armed with tranquilising guns had spent the day combing the area in the Seine-et-Marne district near the French capital, without success.
Authorities ordered residents to stay indoors and use cars to pick their children up from school.
Town hall official Cedric Tartaud-Gineste told AFP: "We are calling on residents to be careful, not to leave their homes and to stay in their vehicles."
"Anyone who sees the tiger should call the police or the fire service."
He said that a security cordon covering an area about the size of four or five football pitches had been set up around a wooded area near the small town of Montevrain, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Paris.
Experts said there was little doubt that the animal on the loose was a tiger.
"There is no doubt, it's a tiger," Robert Picaud, the head of a local group responsible for regulating pests, and who took part in the search.
"The footprints are real and they were not made by a man. These fingerprints and photos, leave no room for doubt."
Police were also using thermal cameras in a bid to find the big cat, estimated to weigh around 70 kilo grammes (155 pounds), according to the town's mayor Christian Robache.
A dog trained in tracking bears and large game was also brought in to help with the search effort.
As darkness fell, officials suspended the search until daybreak.
"The hunt will be suspended for the night until dawn. The helicopter equipped with a thermal camera will keep going," said a local police source.
Earlier yesterday, an AFP reporter saw around a dozen fire engines and police vehicles lined up near the supermarket where the tiger was first spotted.
"My wife saw it this morning," Jean-Baptiste Berdeaux, who manages the Intermarche supermarket, told AFP.
"She didn't get out of the car and called me to say 'I think I saw a lynx'," he said, adding she took a photo of the animal and the couple then alerted nearby police officers.
