Is the beast of Ryedale back again?

10:52am Wednesday 5th September 2007

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A giant panther-type animal was spotted near the village of Oswaldkirk on Monday night by a family on their way home from a swimming session.

Lisa Farrow of Parkers Mount, Kirkbymoorside, was with her six-year-old son, James, her sister Tina Wilson-Gallagher and her son, Oliver, six, when they saw the animal on the roadside verge near Grange Moor Plantation.

"I instinctively knew what it was.

I was dumbstruck. It was jetblack with a bright shiny coat - I couldn't believe what I was seeing, " she said.

What was distinctive about the animal was a long, curling tail, she added.

Before she had chance to get her mobilephone camera into operation, the animal leapt over a fence and into the wood. She said: "I have a labrador and it was much bigger than that."

She has reported the sighting to the police who say they would be interested in receiving any other information about the animal or sightings.