The Beast of Bodmin Moor was a black panther-like creature believed to inhabit Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Since 1983, around sixty big cat sightings were recorded in the mid-Cornwall area and these were supported by numerous reports of mutilated livestock. The “beast”, supposedly three to five feet long and sporting white-yellow eyes, was one of Britain’s most feared animals.
The truth behind the legend is now emerging. In the wake of the escape from Dartmoor Zoo of Flaviu, a rare lynx, it has emerged that three pumas are believed to have been released into the wild by Mary Chipperfield, whose family owned Plymouth Zoo. Obliged to transfer the animals when the family zoo closed down, she is alleged to have released her favourite breeding pair along with a young male to keep them company rather than see them go into a new home.
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