Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into
London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they
were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from
the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to
have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.
The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries
saw ‘a large cat’ only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it,
and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered.
The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning
and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind
it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number
of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained
of ‘cat-like noises’ at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree.
The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come
from? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must
have been in the possession of private collector and somehow managed to escape.
The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to
think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.