SEARCHING FOR SHUMEN PANTHER

The duo noticed a unusual large black animal lurking behind some bushes, and quickly retreating after it noticed the humans. Crucially, one of them managed to get hold of a smartphone and made a short video of the event.

The video went viral. A blood-thirsty panther roaming a peaceful Bulgarian park where the citizens of Shumen go for walks or jogs, social media raged. Or was it a puma? Or a black leopard? In any case the predator posed mortal danger to anyone sufficiently unlucky to encounter it, and the Interior Ministry was quick to show it was actually doing something meaningful by dispatching a couple of police cars to cordon off the area. Access to it was cut off for a few days until... news reports indicated the animal may have moved to nearby Targovishte. Rumours were quickly put into circulation. The puma/panther started walking on the ridge of the Stara Planina mountain range and was on its way to Sofia.

Predictably, the news of the Shumen phenomenon outshone all other current affairs, including the demos against the planned introduction of the euro and the arrest of the mayor of Varna on corruption-related charges, which the political party that had put him forward immediately billed "political repression."

Dozens if not hundreds of memes and AI clips depicting the Shumen predator and often accompanied by scuttlebutt were posted on social media which the overwhelming majority of Bulgarians use to inform themselves about what is going on.

The police tried to organise parties to intercept the animal. They advertised they were looking for marksmen with experience with African wildlife that they deemed instrumental in finding, identifying and neutralising the beast.

As this journal was going to press, no one yet knew with certainty what the unusual animal reportedly roaming the Shumen plateau was, where it had come from and ultimately had it done any damage to property or humans. The summer news lull continues in full swing.