Where must the puma have come from? 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 a 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.