(Original headline: Is this a sighting of the beast of Bawtry or a big dog? )
The beast is back - this time in Bawtry.
Over the years there have been regular sightings of a large black cat padding around the fields and forests of South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire.
It's been dubbed everything from the Penistone Puma to the Beast of Bradway.
But things went a bit quiet on the feline front until this week when PC Adrian Crawley at Doncaster Police Station took a call from a man who claimed to have spotted the fearsome furry friend once more.
PC Crawley said: "A motorist from Sheffield rang after spotting what he believed was a large black cat, possibly a puma, climbing a tree near the industrial estate on Station Road in Bawtry.
"Officers made a search of the area but drew a blank."
But the man who reported the sighting is convinced of what he saw - and his wife can back him up.
Russell Fern, a national accounts manager from Worrall in Sheffield, was sitting in his car with his wife Barbara when they made the shock sighting.
He said: "We saw a large black cat jump into a tree.
"We both watched for a while. It was much too big to be a normal cat."
Russell and Barbara watched the animal - which they say had a four foot long body, football shaped face, jutting jaw and brilliant green eyes - for a few minutes.
Russell added: "This was no ordinary cat, it was absolutely massive."
Big cat expert Dr Dave Clark, who lectures at Sheffield Hallam University, said the sighting was in the same place as many others.
"A few years ago the area where the M1 and M18 meet was a very fertile spot for such sightings.
"There is no doubt people are seeing something - but personally I think they are more likely to be feral cats or big dogs."
