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.