Is there a puma on the loose in Cornwall? Five-inch-wide paw print found in Treviscoe weeks after sighting

AN enormous paw print found in a clay pit has sparked fears a huge PUMA is on the loose in the West Country.

A man was walking in the pit in Cornwall when he spotted the monster five-inch wide print.

John Parkinson was walking in Treviscoe, just three miles north of Nanpean, where in August a man reported a huge creature - a lion or panther type animal - jumped out in front of his car.

He called police who found a paw print in the clay and discovered the partly-eaten, headless corpse of a deer.

Locals are convinced a puma is lurking in the countryside, and now their fears may have been confirmed after John's discovery of the huge print.

He posted a photo of the print with a tape measure, which shows it's almost five inches wide.

He wrote: "Saw this print up Treviscoe. Anyone know what animal it is?"

Simon replied: "Definitely not a badger. There's (sic) are like wide dog prints. Looks like a demon to me bud."

And 'Nick' wrote: "I moved away from that dodgy area. Seen some weird animals around those clay pits!"

In August the driver who saw the mystery creature jumping in front of his car said: "It was like a puma - quite a big thing, bigger than a domestic dog.

"It had black at the tip of its tail, like a tan colour it was, black round the head, wild-looking, flattish ears - that's basically it and I can still see it now.

"It wasn't scary, but it was like what have I just seen?"

He took police to see the site and said: "They found a couple of prints, which I was pleased about, because I'd thought God, no one's going to believe me.

"The police officer did say they can't do a lot because you'd have every idiot in Cornwall with a gun going up there.

"He said the prints looked like a puma or a mountain lion."

Plymouth-based expert Danny Bamping from the Big Cats Society said: "Years ago people did have pumas as pets and they did live in Cornwall and they did set them free.

"This is probably one of those releases or a second or third generation release. We've had sighting around that area going back 25 to 30 years.

"We don't advise people to go out and look for it or hunt for it.

"We might put a trigger camera down in the area but we need to collaborate with the police which is something we hope to do, especially after the missing lynx at Dartmoor Wildlife Park."

This is not the first time a big cat has been "discovered" in the British wilderness.

In August midwife Claire Greensmith saw a “big, black panther-like creature” while hiking at the famous English beauty spot of the Lake District.

Earlier this year it was claimed that the myth of the Beast of Bodmin prowling through moors of Devon and Cornwall could infact be pumas from a zoo.

And just last month Lee Clifford was convinced he has snapped a wild puma prowling the British countryside.

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