Officers from the Rural Police force have set cage traps to try and catch the wild dog, mistaken for a lioness, that has been spotted on the loose in the area around La Senia over the past few days.

Miquel Àngel Garcia, head of the Ebro Region Rural Police force, explained that some of his officers saw a large dog last night, near to an animal pen on a farm where the lioness had supposedly been spotten on Monday.

He confirmed that the animal was large and honey-coloured, with short hair and a curved tail like a lioness, but was most likely an Argentinian Mastiff (Dogo Argentino).

The fact that no other evidence of a lioness had been found in the area all week, but evidence of the presence of a very large dog had been discovered, led the officers to conclude that there had been "a mistake".  Investigations into circuses or farms a lioness could possibly have escaped from had also come up with nothing.

The officers' aim now is to capture the dog, since it appears to have no identification and could therefore be dangerous.  Cage traps have been placed in the vicinity of the farm it was spotted at and officers are on duty with tranquiliser guns.