chris.havergal@cambridge-news.co.uk
9 February 2009
Cambridge News
(C)2009. Cambridge Newspapers Limited
MOTION-sensitive cameras are to be used in a bid to prove - or disprove - the existence of wild big cats in the Cambridgeshire countryside once and for all.
Although many people remain sceptical about the existence of the so-called Fen Tiger, the frequency of reported sightings has snowballed recently, according to a police officer who is investigating the mystery.
PC Paul Carter says he has been contacted by members of the public who believe they have seen big cats roaming freely 120 times in the last five months.
There has been a spate of sightings of a puma-like creature in the Melbourn area in recent weeks.
Several members of the public claim to have seen a large black cat, and weight has been added to the reports by the discovery of a muntjac deer that had been mauled from behind, plus the disappearance of several dogs.
Pc Carter, of Cambridgeshire police's rural community action team, has been informed and will be looking into the claims.
A keeper from Shepreth Wildlife Park - which has two pumas of its own - went down to the area of Melbourn where sightings have been concentrated but was unable to find tracks or trails.
Chris Knowles, another keeper at the park, is a big cat enthusiast in his spare time and plans to set up some cameras, which will be triggered by movement.
Chris, 25, from Histon, used the technology in an attempt to find big cats in Brazil and this is the first time he has used it in the UK.
He said: "I'm convinced they are out there - they have probably been released by people who kept them as pets.
"I'm not saying we're definitely going to get a photo of a big cat but it's not impossible.
"One of the reasons I got the cameras in the first place was to get to the bottom of this mystery."
Pc Carter said: "I'm sitting on the fence on the issue until we have any substantive evidence, but it would be nice to find out one way or another.
"The geography would be good for them, and there are certainly food sources, so why not?"
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