Beast of Bucks spotted in Totteridge

10:21pm Monday 28th July 2008

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THE elusive Beast of Bucks has reared its sandy-coloured head once more after a dog walker spotted it in woods yesterday.

Russell Smith, 33, from Totteridge Road, caught a close-up glimpse of the big cat as he took his dog, Holly for her morning walk through King's Wood.

As he approached the area of woods behind Lea Close he heard a loud rustling sound, and then watched as the beast darted out from the undergrowth and ran off.

Russell, a delivery driver, said: "I was no more than 15 or 20 feet away from it, it was a big old thing. I was actually thinking a deer's going to come running out.

"Normally I go in the woods and I hear all the birds tweeting. I got to where I saw the cat and there was an eerie silence about it all.

"All of a sudden the bushes just came alive and it jumped out. It got my heart pounding."

He added: "Holly, she was a feisty little thing, and she just wanted to go after it."

Russell immediately went home and told his wife, Carrie of the sighting and the pair then looked up the Beast of Bucks legend on this website.

"I did go home on Sunday morning and looked it up and got a few headlines from the Bucks Free Press," he added, "It was a powerful animal. Not as big as a lion, something smaller like a cougar or puma."

Russell's sighting of the legendary beast is one of many reported by dozens of residents who say they have seen a large cat prowling in woods around High Wycombe, and as far away as Princes Risborough.