Big cat on the loose is 'not a tiger': authorities After examining tracks, experts from the national hunting and wildlife office and a nearby big cat park said: "We can exclude the presence of an animal from the tiger species." They added though that "the feline is still being hunted." The appearance of the furtive animal had gripped France and authorities had initially scrambled police, soldiers and a helicopter with thermal imaging equipment to find the beast. But the threat level appeared to be downgraded on Friday, with the local director of public safety, Chantal Baccanini, saying there was "no danger for the general population." "It's between a domestic cat and a bigger feline," said Eric Hansen from the national hunting office ONCFS. For this reason, the searches were "reduced" to just a "security team" looking for the animal in the urban area of Montevrain, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Paris, next to the Disneyland Paris theme park. The town's mayor on Thursday estimated that the animal weighed around 70 kilogrammes (150 pounds). The story had generated wall-to-wall coverage in France on rolling news channels. Meanwhile, authorities were still scratching their heads as to where the feline could have come from. More than 100 police officers and firefighters armed with tranquiliser guns had spent Thursday combing the area in the Seine-et-Marne district to the east of the French capital. Authorities had said they hope to catch the animal alive. They will try to anaesthetise it "if it's possible," police said. If it becomes dangerous or aggressive, the order will be given to kill it.