AN ANIMAL expert has given a dim view on a recent sighting of a big cat that reportedly roams wild in the Crow Country area.

A man driving from Heydon towards Duxford earlier last week claims to have spotted the creature, which has been compared to a puma or panther.

But Rebecca Willers, animal manager at Shepreth Wildlife Park, is not a great believer in the feline’s existence.

“The sightings could go ether way really, and I cannot rule it out or in. It could easily be a large black dog, which would look very similar to a puma or whatever they claim it is.”

“There is evidence of lynxs being shot by farmers in this country, but it’s not to say they have been roaming the countryside.

“Anyway, every time we have set up camera traps we have not caught anything.”

Miss Willers also expressed fear over what would happen if someone was to find the cat.

“The last thing I want is people going out there are trying to catch them, because what are they going to do with it once they’ve got it? If it’s doing no harm then leave it.”

Cllr Deb Roberts, district councillor for Foxton and Fowlmere, is another who has claimed to see the cat. She said: “I saw something every similar to what this gentleman has seen.

“I was in my back garden, looked down the field and saw what I thought at first was a black labrador, however it wasn’t moving like a dog.

“It strolled down the field and the eventually disappeared. It had a long tail, and moved like a cat. I’m quite sure all these sightings can’t be wrong.”

The Crow has had reports of similar sightings in Sandon, Ashwell, Buntingford and Steeple Morden in the past.