The couple that illegally kept the roof panther called Louise says they saw animal as their

A French couple kept Louise, a playful black panther, in an apartment in northern France, triggering panic when he was seen wandering the nearby roofs.

The couple received prison sentences suspended on Thursday for illegally maintaining a wild animal, despite protesting to have seen Louise as their baby.

The ruling follows an incident of September 2019 when the feline of the months was seen wandering through a roof in Armentieres after leaving the couple’s window.

The police made a cord in case it jumped, while rescuers entered the building calmly so as not to surprise the great cat, BBC News reported at that time. After ensuring a perimeter, the Firefighters service said the panther entered one of the houses that allowed workers to catch it, News reported.

The authorities recaptured the panther, which weighed between 55 and 65 pounds when sedating it with anesthetic darts after she entered a house.

Injuries were not reported during the time of the loose animal.

The Court of the Northern City of Lille condemned the 41 -year -old man in the couple at 18 months in jail, which was suspended, and a fine of $ 17,000.

He was also forbidden to keep animals for five years.

The woman, also 41, received a suspended sentence of four months and a prohibition of possession of two -year animals.

Keeping Louise was “equivalent to species traffic,” said Graziella Dode, a lawyer from an animal rights group that joined the case as a civil party.

Xavier Bacquet, which represents another base, called the abuse of crime, arguing that the “physiological needs” of the animal could not be satisfied in captivity.

The owner told the French newspaper La Voix Du Nord in 2019 that he no longer saw him as a panther.

“It was like a big and affectionate baby who just wanted to be hugged,” he said.

He told the court that he had bought the animal for 2,500 euros from an itinerant community.

Kader Laghouati of the Animal Protection League in Lille told the newspaper La Voix Du Nord at that time that the Anmal was domesticated by its owner and that it was not at all aggressive, BBC News reported. His claws had been cut and was good health, according to BBC News.

Prosecutors told the court that he had already been convicted in other cases for theft, violence and drug trafficking, thus illegally maintaining a pet monkey.

After its recapture, the panther was taken to the Maubeuge Zoo, from where it was briefly stolen a few days later.

The feline, renowned Akilla, now lives in the Sanctuary of Stichting Leeuw cats in the Netherlands, where one of his caregivers Wendy Karsten said it is fine.

“It has a lot of fun, it is playful and interacts well with the neighboring panther through the fence,” Karsten told News.

• France