
© PAHandout photo of a animal, believed to be a big cat, prowling close to a naval base in Scotland.
There have been more than 100 sightings of exotic and unidentified animals in England since 2005, according to a dossier compiled by Natural England.They are the stuff of rural legend - but for decades, alleged sightings of big cats stalking the British countryside have been dismissed as hoax or fantasy.
Yet now the head of a Government agency responsible for investigating such incidents has declared that he believes these mysterious creatures do indeed exist.
His comments follow the release of a dossier by Natural England which lists more than 100 sightings of exotic, non-native and unidentified animals in England since 2005.
Of these, 38 were "big cats". In some cases, members of the public claimed to have seen the creature itself; on other occasions, they reported finding farm or wild animals which had been attacked or killed.
The documents - Britain's "big cats X Files" - show the extent to which Natural England takes the reports seriously.