A
harmless Labradoodle sparked fears of a big cat on the loose in the US after
being mistaken by members of the public for a lion.
US
police responded to calls from panicked residents in Norfolk, Virginia, who
rang 911 claiming a fearsome jungle cat was wandering the streets.
Officers
checked with Virginia Zoo to make sure all their lions were accounted for
before launching an investigation into the claims.
Blind
panic was soon replaced by laughter however when it emerged the ‘big cat on the
loose’ was in fact a local celebrity canine named Charles the
Monarch.
A
cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle, Charles has been shaved to
look like the mascot of nearby Old Dominion University by his
fanatical football fan owner Daniel Painter.
Mr
Painter said his pet dog, who has more than 2,000 friends on Facebook, is often
mistaken for a lion thanks to his furry mane.
‘I
tell people he’s a Lab-a-lion, and half the people believe that,’ he told The Virginian Pilot.
In
England, several sightings of an elusive Essex lion sparked a major police
operation before it was eventually called off after authorities admitted ‘it was probably a big pet cat’.
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