A WILDCAT expert revealed there have been five confirmed sightings of pumas in the UK and warned a population of around 250 are breeding across the country.
Rick Minter, Britain's leading big cat tracker, said he has seen "conclusive" videos of the animals amid estimates that hundreds have made the UK their home.
Commenting on the rush of sightings this year, former countryside government adviser Minter says he regularly receives reports of the American mountain lions and black panthers.
He told Daily Star Online: “Some snippets of big cats have been caught on trail cameras or camera traps. Several of these are shown at my talks.
“There was one farmer coming away from a meeting and he showed it on his mobile phone.
“Absolutely 10 out of 10 quality video footage of a puma on his land.
"We came back jaw-dropping… but he was keeping it quiet and to himself.”
PROWLING PUMAS
The experts claims to have spoken to more than 1,000 witnesses across Britain over a ten year period.
Last month Freedom of Information requests made by the Guardian revealed 155 big cat sightings were reported to UK police in the past three years.
Paw prints, tree scratches and the remains of prey are signs distinctive to big cats that are also commonly reported evidence.
He added: “People are hearing these cats too.
"And with about a quarter of these witnesses, they are with a dog or a horse, and the animal often picks up on it first and goes really quite or really anxious.
“The owners have told me that they have never know their animals to be like that, ever before. And then they see the big cat.”
The sightings this year have been reported in Gloucestershire and Cornwall, with Minter claiming other hotspots include Devon, Wales and Scotland.
There was this big cat. It paraded across the field quite happily then it jumped over a wall and vanished.
Stunned locals have recorded footage of the massive wild predators and reported that their pets became prey.
Videos show them prowling British fields near pubs and houses.
It follows police and the RSPCA confirming a hamlet in Cornwall where pets have vanished is being stalked by a large panther-like animal.
Pub landord Ed Simpson spotted a beast out of the window of The Fox Inn in Cornwall.
Ed said: "We were upstairs and saw something out of the window and said 'look at that!'
"There was this big cat. It paraded across the field quite happily then it jumped over a wall and vanished.
"It was really huge, it could have been the size of a Labrador. I put it on Facebook jokingly saying 'has anybody lost a puma?' and it got loads of attention.''
SIGHTINGS OVER THE YEARS
- The Beast of Cumbria Is reported to be a black cat like a panther
- The Hull Hell Cat A huge puma ‘spotted hiding in a field near Hull’
- The Bury Beast A black panther spotted in the suburbs of Manchester
- The Wildcat of Wakefield A black panther-like cat spotted in a Yorkshire field
- The Pershore Panther A huge black cat beside the road in Worcestershire
- The Wildcat of Warwickshire. A possible lynx spotted wandering Warwickshire
- The Bedfordshire Big Cat. A "panther-like" cat stalking the county
- The Beast of Silsoe A ‘cat as big as Labrador’ seen roaming the small parish
- The Beast of Bucks A puma which attacked a dog in High Wycombe
- The Beast of Broomfield A huge cat spotted in Essex
- The Dartmoor Lynx Several sightings in recent months on the moors
- The Dartmoor Devil A leopard believed to be behind cattle attacks
- The Creature of Cornwall Reportedly a stalking lion
- The Beast of Bodmin Several sightings of a puma-like creature wandering the moors
- The Suffolk Panther A huge black cat spotted on the Norfolk/Suffolk border
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