The most feared cat in Wales, the alleged killer puma is said to have mutilated 50 sheep in Pontrhydfendigaid, near Aberystwyth, since 1995.

Police marksmen combed the Tywi Forest to no avail, and later planned to shoot the creature from a helicopter with heat-seeking equipment.

Politicians rubbished frightened residents' claims that a large cat screamed and growled at them in the Neath Forest five years ago.

But London Zoo officials later identified the creature as a North American Jungle Cat after a plaster cast was taken from paw prints made in a forest near Port Talbot.

Experts blamed the death of lambs on a farm in Whitemill on a family of pumas.

Sheep, a calf and a horse were also savaged near the Penbryn Park Farm last year.

Responsible for killing 4 sheep on a farm in Llangurig in 1980.

Police marksmen and RSPCA officials staked out this creature in a barn, but it evaded them by slipping out of a rear exit.

The mysterious animal which killed lambs on a farm in Llanuwchllyn was killed by a local farmer in 1995.

But it turned out to be a pet lemur which had escaped from a nearby animal sanctuary.

Police performed a helicopter search for a vicious creature which terrorised two 10-year-old boys in Pontarddulais, near Swansea, last year.

But the animal became scared and ran off when the boys' dog barked at it.

In 1997, a creature said to resemble a "cat-like beast" savaged a foal in Felingwm, Carmarthen.

A local newspaper photographer claimed to have captured a wild creature on film in the Welshpool countryside.

The animal reportedly growled at walkers from trees.

Farmers mounted a 24-hour armed guard in fields after a mischievous creature was reported to have killed sheep.

Worried parents were forced to provide their children with escorts to school.

In Mid Glamorgan, a farmer reported coming within 12 feet of a three foot-long cat which he described as 'sleek'.

In 1983, a motorist spotted a large cat in his headlights whilst driving through Bryngarw near Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran.

It was the third sighting in the area within a fortnight.

There was a sighting of a large cat in Llangoedmor near Boncath in Ceredigion, in January 1996.