Panther roams around Ibis parking lot in Anderlecht

A black panther roamed Anderlecht on Thursday morning after it escaped from its cage in an Ibis parking lot. It sounds like the plot of a movie, and, ironically enough, the animal was on its way to a film set somewhere in Belgium.

It was just after 5.30 this morning when the animal was spotted loose in the parking lot on Route de Lennik, and witnesses immediately called the police. “The panther was quite calm, and so the agents parked their vehicle in such a way that it couldn’t get out of the parking lot,” a police spokesperson said.

The police then called a veterinarian, but before the vet arrived, the owner of the animal emerged from his hotel room. He had no idea that his panther had gotten loose.

“The man leashed it and led it back to the cage, which was in a truck,” said the spokesperson. “He is apparently someone who trains animals for film shoots, and he was on his way to a set in Belgium.”

It was not immediately apparent how the animal managed to get out of both the cage and the truck.

Photo courtesy Midi police zone