Big cat stories have cropped up in the regional press with monotonous regularity over the years – and the year 2000 has started with a bumper crop.

The Citizen in Gloucester has reported this year on the discovery of four mutilated sheep at Longhope and an attack on a husky-collie cross in the north Forest area – both believed to be the work of a big cat.

Reader Derek Day, 63, of Newent, also reported to the paper that he had found large, deep claw marks on the side wooden door of his house above a cat flap.

Meanwhile, in the Westcountry, Western Morning News reader Trevor Bartle, gave a graphic account of a large panther, or puma, which he said walked up to his car and around it near Mylor Bridge village.

The Express & Echo in Exeter reported that farmer Colin Greenslade saw a large black creature as he drove along a quiet country lane in Brithem Bottom. Another couple reported seeing a puma-like animal less than a mile away.

Dr Paul Chanin, mammal expert at the University of Exeter, told the paper there have been more than 200 sightings of large black cats ober the years in the South West alone.

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