A terrified dad-of-two said his 'heart was racing' when he pulled over to help what he thought was a big cat left dying in the road.
Ben Lilly was heading down the A646 in West Yorkshire on Saturday morning when he spotted the distinctive pattern of a leopard sprawled across the tarmac.
The IT consultant said he remembered reports of other big cats which had been sighted in the area and turned round determined to help the wounded animal.
He cautiously got out of his car with adrenaline pumping, admitting he was reluctant to get too close as it may still have been alive, fearing he could have his face 'ripped off'.
Being able to make our the creature's tail, he walked around the 'carcass' before realising the precious life he had selflessly attempted to help was in fact an abandoned onesie dumped by weekend party-goers.
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Luckily, Ben wasn't the only one to make the mistake, as many others admitted they had to 'look twice' when he posted about his embarrassment on Facebook.
Sharing pictures of the 'exotic animal', Ben wrote: "Careful! Dead leopard in the road on way to Halifax!
"Oh no, it's someone's coat from last night, can't believe I turned back for this!"
The 40 year old was left laughing at himself for the case of mistaken identity, as he admitted: "My heart was racing with a kind of excitement.
"I thought 'is this a big cat?' It would be an amazing thing to find.
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"I saw something in the distance as I was coming round the bend and slowed down, giving it a wide berth in case it was an injured animal.
"As I passed it, I looked out the passenger's window and saw the markings on it.
"It had the tail bit on it too, so it looked really real while I was driving.
"I thought 'wow'. You hear of these sightings of big cats and around the Halifax area, there have been reports before.
"I spun round where I could and drove back along. I looked again – it looked real. I then parked behind it and looked from within the car.
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"I got out cautiously, because I didn't want something taking my face off, but as soon as I looked at it from the other angle I started laughing."
Ben said he took his phone out of his pocket, eager to capture his incredible find to impress his girlfriend, before being forced to take his mistake on the chin.
Coming from Halifax, he said road kill isn't a rare sight and he often spots foxes, badgers and even people's poor pets falling victim to the traffic.
He returned to the scene later to find the onesie had been pushed onto the pavement and saw that other drivers had commented to say the clothing had also caught their eye – but none admitted to being 'silly' enough to stop.
A few replied to the post, which accumulated 5,800 shares, as one wrote: "I totally thought it was a zoo road kill. I think it was merely my own over-wearing of animal print that made my brain [talk me] out of turning back. But I was still wondering."
A second said: "Bloody hell! I thought the same as I drove over it this morning."
Another simply added: "This is the funniest thing ever."
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