Police responding to loose panther report find stuffed toy

July 24 (UPI) -- A British police department said officers responding to a report of a "large apex predator" -- a black panther -- in a public park arrived to find the supposed dangerous animal was only a stuffed toy.

Horsham Police said officers were summoned to a park in the Steyning area of West Sussex, England, on a report of a big cat on the loose.

The department said the officers who arrived at the scene didn't immediately realize that what initially appeared to be a black panther was actually a stuffed toy.

"Reports of a large apex predator in the Steyning area turned out to be true," Horsham Police tweeted. "It may be a stuffed toy, but the attending officers didn't necessarily know that at first."