Police Call Off Search For Essex Lion

Police have called off a search for a lion reportedly on the loose in Essex.

Officers have spent almost 24 hours combing the countryside around Clacton-on-Sea after a group of residents yesterday claimed to have seen the king of the jungle near Earls Hall Drive in St Osyth.

But after search teams found no evidence of the big cat, the force this afternoon decided to stop looking.

Witnesses reported seeing a lioness in fields stalking up and down a hedgerow before it was disturbed by a farmer and ran off.

Armed officers and Colchester Zoo workers armed with tranquiliser guns searched for pawprints after sightings of the animal were reported at 7pm on Sunday.

Police urged residents in the village to remain inside their homes as the search for the big cat continued.

But on Monday an Essex Police spokesman said: "We believe what was seen on Sunday evening was either a large domestic cat or a wildcat.

"Extensive searches have been carried out, areas examined and witnesses spoken to; yet nothing has been found to suggest that a lion was in the area.

"We would like to thank the local community and holidaymakers for their patience and support throughout the past 24 hours as the police and media presence would have been somewhat overwhelming for them."

David and Susan Wright said they photographed the lioness from their back garden after spotting it in the field.

Mrs Wright told Sky News: "It definitely looked like a lion, the head, the body. When it stood up you could see the tail as well and it was massive.

"I'm convinced it looked like a female lion, definitely.

"It just went up and down the hedge. We just watched it for about half-an-hour.

"The farmer went into the field and it took flight, went through the hedge into the next field and that's when we lost sight of it."

Roger Lord, of Earls Hall Farm, said caravan residents on the farm land passed police a picture of the suspected lion.

He said: "I am sceptical - I think it might just well be a large domestic cat but they certainly saw something that they were concerned about and they went down the right route to the police.

"They have taken it very seriously and have put two helicopters up in the air and I don't know how many armed police that we still have on site now."

Police said the creature had not escaped from Colchester Zoo, as all its animals were accounted for.

Suggestions it may have belonged to a circus that stopped in Essex a week ago were also ruled out after the circus revealed it did not have any lions.

A police spokesman said between two and six people claimed to have seen the big cat, but there had been no further sightings since Sunday.

He said: "Public safety is our priority which is why we are taking the sighting and all associated evidence seriously.

"For those who wish to take a walk in the countryside surrounding Clacton, then we would just ask them to be extra vigilant and cautious.

"However, they will probably see us first before they see anything else."

Officers did not find any prints or droppings to confirm the sighting.

Residents were told to stay indoors on Sunday night as search teams attempted to track the animal.

Che Kevlin said he heard what he believed to be a roar whilst out walking his dog on Sunday night.

"It was worrying as we had just been for a walk with the dog. We saw the police helicopter but thought it was just searching for a person," he told the BBC.

"It sounded like the roar of a lion. We have a field and wood just behind our fence, so you never know."

Bernadette Cleere, whose aunt runs the King's Arms pub in St Oysth, told Sky News that when she first heard a lion could be on the loose she thought it was "a hoax".

She said: "There was a circus in Clacton about a week ago so some people are saying it has come from there, some are saying it has come from a zoo, but no one knows.

"It's not the thing you expect to hear - that there's a lion prowling around."

But Danny Bamping, from the Big Cat Society, said he thought the animal was more likely to be a puma lioness which has allegedly been seen numerous times in Essex.

Dozens of spoof photographs with the lion in the background cropped up on the internet, while the Twitter handle, @essexlion, attracted more than 37,000 followers.

The Wrights handed their camera to police and it was returned to them at midnight on Sunday.