THERE has been another big cat sighting in the Ryedale area, this time as an unwelcome guest at a hotel in Pickering.

"On Saturday we had a phone call from Pickering police who said they had a reported sighting of a puma in our gardens," said Roger Clayton, proprietor of the Lodge Hotel in Middleton Road.

"There had been two reports, one on Thursday and another at 9.45 on Saturday morning," he added.

When hearing there might be a big cat on his property, Mr Clayton went out into the gardens where there is a shed.

He approached it and shut the open door with a golf club just in case the animal was inside.

"I can tell you there was a reported puma sighting but anything else is conjecture because I haven't seen it myself," added Mr Clayton.

Pickering police acknowledged the sightings had been reported to them.

The person who reported the sightings to the police was unavailable for comment.

The creature is said to fit the description of an animal spotted last month in the Marishes area, near Malton.

At the time, the Evening Press reported how a couple returning from their summer holiday had seen a black cat the size of a large dog at the roadside near the Pottery Nurseries at 3.30am.

Eddie Bell, a policeman and big cat specialist who has looked into reports of big cats in Ryedale area, is sceptical about such sightings.

When the last animal was seen at the Marishes, he said: "The majority of sightings are of feral cats, domestic cats that have gone wild but, the thing is, they can be much bigger than a domestic cat."

Updated: 12:44 Tuesday, March 08, 2005