Help to solve the Beast of Bucks mystery

There have been sightings of the creature over the past 25 to 30 years but no definite proof has been found.

Now Operation Big Cat 2001 has been launched to try to establish the existence of the creature and similar wild cats across the country.

The group behind the new operation believes the reported appearance of the creatures in the countryside could be down to the passing of a Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976.

The group is asking for anyone who released a puma, panther or any other wild cats into the countryside when the Government act came into effect to contact them.

Bob Engledow, joint co-ordinator of the operation based in Norfolk, said: "In the 1970s many people kept big cats and other potentially dangerous animals privately, because it was not illegal to do so at the time.

"If I had been a private animal collector at the time of the introduction of the new act I would have done what many of them did. I would have taken my big cats out into the countryside and released them."

Operation Big Cat says in 1976 the Government introduced the act which meant private animal keepers had to be licensed with their local authority.

With the act came rules and regulations that would have cost wild animal owners a huge amount.

Organisers of Operation Big Cat believe this is why sightings of the beast of Bucks have been reported over the last 25 to 30 years.

The organisation wants to hear from anyone who released a cat into the countryside during that time.

Bob added: "It was not illegal to release big cats into the countryside in 1976. People who did this were not breaking the law then, nor can they be prosecuted for having done so now."

Write to the operation stating which species you released and how many, where you released them from, how old they were, their state of health, where you got them from and how long you had the animals.

Send it to Operation Big Cat, 14 Rayns Close, Sprowston, Norwich NR6 7QX.