An unknown big cat is roaming North Bohemia, and Czech authorities want it captured

Jablonec nad Nisou, North Bohemia, Oct 23 (CTK) – The Jablonec Town Hall has issued a permit for catching or killing the unknown big cat, evidently an exotic beast of prey, which has been seen roaming a nearby forest in the past weeks, Jana Matechova, from the mayor’s office, told CTK.

The unknown predator was for the first time spotted on September 25, when the Town Hall of Jablonec, a district centre with 46,000 inhabitants, warned local people against entering the forest.

“We will primarily seek to have the beast caught alive,” Martina Syruckova, from the Town Hall, said, adding that hunters and police have been empowered to eliminate it.

“The issued permit does not apply to the adjacent protected nature area. We expect the Agency for Nature and Landscape Protection to issue the relevant permit in the nearest days,” Lucie Vavruskova, from the Town Hall’s environment and heritage care department said.

The Town hall still recommends that people be cautious when moving in the wild, and report the unknown predator, if they spotted it, to phone numbers 156 or 158.

Confirming the predator’s presence in the region some time ago, Jablonec Mayor Jiri Cerovsky said experts examined its photos taken by photo traps.

They stated it was no domestic cat but something much larger, a genuine beast of prey, but they could not asceratin the species from the photos.

rtj/dr