La Bête du Gévaudan, or The Beast of Gévaudan (an area near present day Lozère) By Keith H. Burgess.

In the 18th century in France in Gevaudan near present day Lozere there was a beast killing and devouring people in the countryside that was described as being wolf like but the size of a cow!
Many people believed it to be a werewolf. There were almost 200 encounters with this huge preditor with at least 33 wounded and 88 people dead, though some put the death toll much higher.
There were many attempts at killing this beast by local hunters, but it seems that all they did was kill ordinary wolves, as the killings continued. Eventually a local hunter called Jean Chastel is credited with killing the beast. Jean Chastel firmly believed this beast was indeed a werewolf and so accordingly he had his gun blessed by a local priest and loaded the flintlock gun with a round ball cast of silver!
It is said that Jean Chastel was saying his prayers before entering the forest in pursuit of the beast when this terrifying creature emerged from the forest right in front of him. Jean Chastel is said to have taken the time to finish his prayer before taking aim at the creature and killing it.
But to this day no one knows what this beast was. Some say that there were offspring from this creature which accounts for other claims of having killed a beast which did not however stop the killings. After Jean Chastel had killed this beast the killings did in fact come to an end, but as I said, to this day no one was able to identify this huge preditor as a known animal other than a werewolf.
Today in the high country of France I am told there are still wild places where bears roam. Could the offspring of this beast still exist? We will probably never know.