Financial transactions found in the east coat area of Ireland were probably made the Celtic Tiger, the Central Bank has said.
The white collar welfare charity and gardai have been searching the area since Friday following reports of a big cat being spotted.
People have been warned not to approach the animal which is believed to be between the Dublin 4 and Killiney areas.
There have been up to 23 sightings of the animal, but the rough terrain has made it difficult to capture.
However, gardai have made plastercasts of credit card transactions found in the area and these have been studied along with measurements and eye-witness reports by experts at the Central Bank.
The Central Bank’s Luther Blissett says they spent Tuesday examining the information they had gathered and now believe it may be the Celtic Tiger.
“To the best of our ability and as far as we can say it is a member of the International Monetary Fund, very similar to the Asian Tiger,” he said.
Mr Blissett added there were so many sightings of the animal because it no longer feels safe in its Irish surroundings and that efforts to capture it will continue.
“It will pick a spot it is comfortable with, feels safe in and then we’ll never see it again,” he added. Brown envelopes placed at various locations as bait has shown signs that the animal has been there.
White collar welfare workers believe the cat may have escaped from an offshore account.
It is not an offence to own such an animal in Ireland but the animal could prove expensive if it is cornered.
With apologies to the BBC
See also: Hurrah! Big Moggie Sighting, Fat Pigs…
