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Originally posted by rikgrimsby
They where on our local news tonight as they live very near to where I live. The picture was taken on a normal digatial camera.... There where 4 people who saw this big cat and another who heard it roar...
We think we've found the cat which started the Essex "lion" hunt. He's called Teddy Bear and he's a Maine Coon cat, which are bigger than your average cat. His owner Ginny Murphy thinks it was Teddy Bear which was photographed. But whether it was Teddy Bear or not, the "lion" hunt really caught the public's imagination.
And if it was indeed Teddy Bear, then the description - in some quarters - of the police search as "operation pussy cat" would seem all the more accurate.
A woman has claimed sightings of a "lion"- which sparked an extensive search by Essex Police - were of her large pet cat, Teddy Bear.
A search for the "very large animal" seen in St Osyth, near Clacton-on-Sea, on Sunday was called off on Monday.
Ginny Murphy said her ginger Maine Coon cat, the largest domestic breed, regularly wanders into the field where the animal was spotted.
She said she believes Teddy Bear was mistaken for a lion by holidaymakers...
...Ms Murphy, of St Osyth, said: "From the picture, he's identical - he's big, he's always out in the fields.
"Maine Coons like to hunt, and where he was is a particular area he likes to go.
"He's always coming back with birds."
Her three-year-old pet is about 28in (70cm) in length.
Essex Police have not released any details of the cost of the search, but have said about 25 officers were called to where the animal was seen, including specialist firearms officers and experts from Colchester Zoo.
Two police helicopters, one with thermal imaging equipment, were also used to try to detect any trace of an animal.
Originally posted by 2012king
The thing that makes me think is, surely if that pet cat is local, the people who spotted it wouldn't have thought twice and just assumed it was teddy bear... But for them and others to call the police saying it was a lion? After 20 mins of watching it, they should have been able to spot the difference.
Originally posted by woodwytch
I think this ...
could possibly be this ...
Someones idea of a joke maybe
Woody