Original headline: Hunt is on for big black cat
Armed police and a search helicopter were called in after a sighting of a big cat near a Shropshire motel.
Part of Shrewsbury was sealed off and a section of the main A5 on the outskirts of town closed by police for nearly an hour during the hunt.
The search proved unsuccessful but it was the third reported sighting in a month of a huge black cat roaming in grassland in the area and animal experts believe it may have been a jaguar or leopard that was being kept illegally and had escaped.
The animal, which was said to be about 6ft long, was spotted at about 10am on Sunday in a field behind Bayston Hill Travelodge, near Shrewsbury, by a couple who alerted the police.
A West Mercia Police armed response unit and dog handlers were called to the area in case public safety was threatened and experts from the West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire, were also drafted in.
Bob Lawrence, head warden from the safari park, said there had been further sightings a month ago and two weeks ago.
"Police were happy that it was an authentic sighting. A couple aged between 40 and 50 and who seemed well-educated had called the police to it, saying they had been watching it from a window for some time.
"We were called in with a tranquilliser rifle and an armed police unit attended as well. We wanted to catch it alive if we could but public safety has to be paramount," said Mr Lawrence.
"Being black, with such a long black tail the cat was almost certainly a leopard or a jaguar. "It is most likely that it was being kept illegally so when it escaped the owner was in no position to raise the alarm.
"If cornered they can attack you but it would be much more likely to run away. There have been around 40 years of big cat sightings and no one has so far been attacked.
"There have been no good pictures of it yet. It's so frustrating, if the couple had picked up a camera I could have told them what the animal was in two seconds flat."
Although the creature was was not found, animal experts did take a faeces sample.
West Mercia Police Inspector Iain Bailey said: "Any reports of this nature we take seriously and will be looked into if practicable. Historically there have been several big cat sightings across the region."
The A5 bypass was closed during the hunt to ensure the animal was safe if it became startled and ran on to the road.
The sighting was just the latest in a series across the Midlands over the last few years. Findings of paw prints and attacks on cattle and domestic pets have all risen in the region, leading experts to fear the big cat population could be on the increase.
Three cattle were mauled in Shropshire recently while there have been several suspicious sheep kills in Herefordshire and Wales.
Video coverage captured at both Telford and Alcester, Warwickshire, suggest a large, black cat - far larger than a domestic feline - roaming the countryside.
The British Big Cats Society, a national network of 600 members including 30 police officers and academics, has assembled a dossier supporting the presence of feline predators in the countryside.
Sightings have been recorded as far back as 1860.
