A police drone unit were forced to call off their hunt for a black panther after discovering the sightings were of a domestic cat writes Olive Loveridge-Greene.

Officers had been called out on the search on Saturday night (June 6) after reports of the Big Cat running loose in the British countryside.

Drone pilot Special Inspector Guy Sanders raced to the scene in Chiseldon, Wilts., to support other officers as they hunted for the animal following a report from a member of the public.

The call-out follows a 27-year-old dog walker reporting a prowling predator roaming around the Cotswolds earlier in the week.

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But despite the vast search the panther could not be located - but officers did find a large domestic cat called Albert, thought to be the cause of the search.

Wiltshire Police drone unit tweeted: "A busy night for the team. A firearms deployment, a high risk missing person, a medical tasking to an RTC, oh and to try and help locate a Black Panther.

Fortunately all resolved safely. And the panther turned out to be Albert the large domestic cat."

Mr Saunders added: "The cat couldn't work out what all the fuss was".