 The Beast of Exmoor is a <unk> cat ( see phantom cat ) that is reported to roam Exmoor . There have been numerous reports of eyewitness sightings . The BBC calls it " the famous @-@ yet @-@ elusive beast of Exmoor " . Sightings were first reported in the 1970s although it became notorious in 1983 , when a South Molton farmer claimed to have lost over 100 sheep in the space of three months , all of them apparently killed by violent throat injuries . Descriptions of its colouration range from black to tan or dark grey . It is possibly a cougar or black leopard which was released after a law was passed in 1976 making it illegal for them to be kept in captivity outside zoos . In 2006 , the British Big Cats Society reported that a skull found by a Devon farmer was that of a puma ; however , the Department for Environment , Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra ) states , " Based on the evidence , Defra does not believe that there are big cats living in the wild in England . " 
