After nearly two weeks of high alert and a complete lockdown of Bulgaria’s Shumen Plateau Nature Park, the active search for a suspected black panther has come to an end without any trace of the predator, according to domestic media.
The search, which began on 19 June, was prompted by a widely circulated video and paw prints that initially led to fears that a dangerous wild feline was roaming free.
However, zoologists from the National Museum of Natural History have since raised doubts. For one, Dr Stoyan Lazarov believes that the paw print likely belonged to a large dog.
A report from fellow zoologist, Professor Nikolay Spasov, supported this claim, also stating the print was not feline in origin.
Despite days of tracking and deploying camera traps and baited stations, no apparent sightings or physical traces were found. The animal’s movements appear “erratic and unpredictable," said Georgi Krastev, director of the Central Balkan National Park, who helped coordinate the search.
Lazarov also noted that a creature raised in captivity, such as a black leopard or jaguar, would likely gravitate toward populated areas in search of food, rather than hiding deep in the woods. The absence of livestock attacks or sightings in nearby villages only deepens the uncertainty.
Some experts now question whether the animal was ever there. Others suggest it may have migrated from or to neighbouring countries, including Romania, Hungary or Serbia.
Meanwhile, further information emerged that there were not one but two black panthers in Shumen — of which one was pregnant.
In recent years, authorities have dealt with several unusual cases — from a tame alligator found living between apartment blocks in Sofia in 2024, to a caracal captured in Plovdiv in 2019, and a leopard that escaped a zoo in Lovech in 2014 before being shot by local hunters, according to domestic media reports.
Authorities continue to suspect the black panther spotted in Shumen may have escaped from an illegal exotic pet owner, though there have been no further developments on that front.
The panther goes viral
While the mystery of the elusive black panther in Bulgaria’s Shumen Plateau may have come to an anticlimactic, albeit still open-ended conclusion, it has sparked a wave of humour across the country and the wider region.
Social media has been flooded with memes and AI-generated images of the big cat, as well as folk songs about the black panther or puma from Shumen.
Businesses were also quick to capitalise on the unexpected publicity, adding references to the panther into their marketing.
In Romania, for instance, restaurants have created images of the panther enjoying local delicacies such as beer and kebabs, domestic media reported.
The latest joke came from Romania's emergency services, who posted an AI-generated photo of firefighters rescuing a black panther from a tree — a post that quickly went viral with thousands of likes and shares.
The Romanian emergency department was quick to point out that the humorous AI-generated post was also intended to highlight the need for increased awareness of fake content and disinformation, in an educational twist to their joke.
Authorities in Bulgaria have stated that monitoring for the black panther will continue, with signs posted throughout the park advising visitors to enter at their own risk.
Locals are advised to avoid forested areas alone and remain calm if they encounter the animal, as the predator can turn aggressive if it feels threatened.
