Big cat alert after attack on sheep

Officers from North Yorkshire Police confirmed the evidence suggests a panther-like creature could be responsible for the attack near Ravensworth, to the north of Richmond.

Flesh had been stripped from the mutilated remains of the sheep and wildlife officers from the North Yorkshire force have been liaising with experts from the Big Cats Society.

Rural crime officer Pc John Wilbor from North Yorkshire Police said: " The evidence seems to fit with a possible big cat attack.

"These animals can travel a wide area and by their nature they are very secretive."

The best known big cat supposedly roaming the wilds of Yorkshire is the so-called Black Beast of Ossett.

It was reportedly spotted in 2000 in a field near an old quarry in Coxley Valley, near Ossett.

Some experts believe a number of large felines were released by private collectors after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act came into force in the 1970s and have since bred with native cats to produce hybrids.

However, Natural England maintained earlier this year that there was no evidence of big cats roaming the countryside after probing dozens of sightings.