There's a big cat mystery in Southold

After the Montauk Monster, comes ... the Bayview Beast?

The latest in Long Island animal antics takes the shape of a purported mountain lion roaming through the Bayview neighborhood in Southold, according to a complaint made to police last week.

Around 9 a.m. Oct. 17, a very large cat was spotted strolling across a lawn and into the woods near Waterview Drive, said John, a resident who declined to give his last name.

"I pulled up into my driveway and I could see it as plain as day, walking across my neighbor's lawn," he said, and called the police.

He described the cat as 5 to 6 feet long, not including the tail, and resembling a mountain lion.

"We have to believe there's something there," said Southold Police Chief Carlisle Cochran Jr. on Friday.

"I don't think it's running stray in Bayview," he said. "I have to believe this is someone's pet who gets out once in a while."

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation said investigators have yet to see any sign of mountain lions. "So far we haven't come up with any tangible evidence -- scat or feces from the animal, tracks that can be seen, some sort of remains," said spokeswoman Aphrodite Montalvo. Mountain lions haven't been native to Long Island since pre-Colonial times, she said.

Arielle Brechisci contributed to this story.