‘Contact police’: A ‘panther’ has been spotted in a town in Ireland

Life is sometimes stranger than fiction, and this is definitely one of those times.

According to emerging reports, an animal, which has been compared to a 'panther', has been recently spotted roaming a town in Northern Ireland.

The large black cat became the subject of a PSNI Newry & Mourne Facebook post when they warned members of the public to contact police if they happened upon it.

In a post which has been shared hundreds of times since its upload at the weekend, the PSNI wrote: "On 16th June 2017 at 11am Police received a report of what has been described as a large black cat, possibly a panther, sighted in the Moneymore Road area of Newry."

"If you do see an animal matching this description can you contact Police immediately and reference serial number 381 16/06/17. DO NOT APPROACH!"

Facebook users wasted no time tagging friends and family following the upload of the post at the weekend.

"Mr Police man, is this a p*** take altogether? I did ask the question last night but it seems to have got lost in others taking the p***, Is it safe to leave the kids in the garden?"

And we'll just leave it there…