IS THIS proof of the existence of the fabled Beast of Ryedale?

This photograph of a huge pawprint was sent in by an Evening Press reader who lives near Hovingham a hotbed of big cat sightings. The print measures approximately 10cm across, and is printed here at almost actual size. The reader, who asked not to be named, spotted it on the edge of woods near his home.

"I was startled by the sheer size of it," he said.

"I put a bucket over it to protect it and went to find a camera and ruler."

The man said a neighbour recently told him he had seen what he swore was a lion in the same area.

"I asked him if he was sure it wasn't a dog and he said: 'I know a lion when I see one'."

The man said the print was bigger than that of a dog, but was also the wrong shape.

"From what I have seen, it belongs to a cat and not a dog. It is way too rounded," he said.

"I don't think it is a tiger or anything like that, but maybe it is a puma."

Sean Drayton, of Flamingoland Zoo, said: "It is nice to see some documentary evidence o usually we just get told of someone seeing something running across a road."

Sean said it was unlikely that a big cat could live undetected in the area for long for because of the amount of food it would need to eat.

"And as there are claw marks, that would rule out it being a cat o they would be retracted," he added. He said the print was more likely to belong to a very large dog.

He added: "I'm always sceptical about these things, but it wants looking into further."

Police in the Indian capital New Delhi were overwhelmed by dozens of reported sightings of a superpowered "monkey man" as panicked residents spilled out of their homes in fear.

A pregnant woman died while trying to escape as neighbours screamed that the monkey man was coming.

Mass hysteria has been sweeping the city following reports of late-night attacks by the so-called monkey man, who many witnesses describe as four feet tall with a hairy body and sharp metal claws.

Updated: 12:49 Tuesday, March 08, 2005