A BIG cat expert believes a beast may be stalking the area around a popular tourist attraction on Dartmoor.

Danny Bamping says a visitor’s sighting of what he believes was a caracal at Wistman’s Wood, near Two Bridges, is entirely possible.

Carl Foss, 36, from Salisbury, claims to have seen the caracal, originally from Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India, while he was visiting Dartmoor recently.

He said he found himself a few feet away from sand-coloured big cat with black-tipped ears while he was exploring the area of Wistman’s Wood.

Mr Foss said his sighting took place over the space of around 20 seconds before the cat turned and ran away. He identified it as a caracal after checking out what he had seen when he returned home.

The incident has been reported to Danny Bamping, spokesman for the Big Cats Society, who said he believed it was entirely possible Mr Foss had spotted either a caracal or a large ‘exotic’ cat.

There have been dozens of sighting of big cats in Devon and Cornwall, with one identifying a puma-like creature at the other end of the moor in the South Hams.

Experts believe the so-called big cats are descendants of pets released into the wild so their owners did not fall foul of the Dangerous Animals Act of 1976. According to one expert, Gloucestershire-based Frank Tunbridge, a pair of caracals were released onto Dartmoor as recently as a decade ago.

Plymouth-based Mr Bamping said: ‘I think it (the caracal) needs to be looked at, so I might even put a camera at Wistman’s Wood. It could be a case of mistaken identity, but yes, I think it’s possible.

‘We have had sightings of a puma-like creature near Ivybridge in the South Hams, so it could be the same animal as they cover a wide area.

‘If anyone does see a big cat, we would encourage them to report it on our website.’

The caracal is described as being 20 inches high at the shoulder, with a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ears, and long canine teeth.

It is said to normally go out at night, is highly secretive and difficult to observe. It is territorial, and lives mainly alone or in pairs. It eats small mammals, birds, and rodent, can leap higher than 12 feet and can catch a bird in mid air. The average lifespan of captive caracals is nearly 16 years.

The British Big Cats Society has said between 60 and 70 per cent of sightings were of big black cats but in Devon and Cornwall there was an usually high volume of puma sightings.

The number of sightings has prompted the society to invest and develop a specialist trigger camera.

Sightings of big cat-like creatures have been reported in West Devon from as far apart as Okehampton, Tavistock and Calstock, where a resident reported a puma had attacked their dog and left a large footprint.

The cats are said to be capable of travelling around 25k a night, with the society suggesting that the Beast of Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor and Exmouth could be the same creature.