LILLE, France — A French couple kept Louise, a playful black panther, in an apartment in northern France, triggering panic when she was spotted roaming nearby rooftops.

The pair were handed suspended jail sentences on Thursday for illegally keeping a wild animal, despite protesting that they saw Louise as their baby.

The ruling follows a September 2019 incident when the months-old feline was seen roaming a rooftop in Armentieres after slipping out of the couple's window.

Authorities recaptured the panther, which weighed between 25 to 30 kilograms (66 pounds) by sedating her with anesthetic darts after she entered a home.

No injuries were reported during the animal's time on the loose.

The court in the northern city of Lille condemned the 41-year-old man in the couple to 18 months in jail, which was suspended, and a 10,000 euro (,000) fine.

He was also barred from keeping animals for five years.

The woman, also 41, received a four-month suspended sentence and a two-year animal possession ban.

Keeping Louise was "tantamount to species trafficking," argued Graziella Dode, a lawyer for an animal rights group that joined the case as a civil party.

Xavier Bacquet, representing another foundation, called the crime mistreatment, arguing that the animal's "physiological needs" could not be met in captivity.

The owner told French daily La Voix du Nord in 2019 that he no longer saw it as a panther.

"She was like a big, affectionate baby who just wanted to be cuddled," he said.

He told the court that he'd bought the animal for 2,500 euros from a travelling community.

Prosecutors told the court he'd already been convicted in other cases for theft, violence, and drug dealing, as well for illegally keeping a pet monkey.

After its recapture, the panther was taken to the Maubeuge Zoo, from where it was briefly stolen a few days later.

The feline, renamed Akilla, now lives at the Stichting Leeuw big cat sanctuary in the Netherlands, where one of its caretakers Wendy Karsten said it is doing well.

"It has a lot of fun, is playful and interacts well with the neighbouring panther through the fence," Karsten told Agence France-Presse.

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