puma

For decades these animals – lions, tigers, pumas, cheetahs and jaguars – have been a sign of power, status and even political fealty in the country.

Spanish authorities have arrested a couple suspected of selling exotic cats online, including protected species like white tigers, pumas and clouded leopards.

Small puma populations have been isolated by the freeway, and their offspring were showing signs of birth defects.

But was the puma really to blame for the killings or an unwitting participant in an elaborate hoax, and why did big cat sightings continue after she was caught?

The complaint included multiple time-stamped pictures of a puma on the property.