BIG CAT expert Frank Tunbridge insists panthers and pumas are roaming the countryside – despite DNA evidence showing two savaged deer found near Stroud were eaten by foxes.

Tests carried out by scientists at the University of Warwick revealed no trace of big cat DNA on either mutated carcass – found a few miles apart on National Trust land near Woodchester Park.

Speculation that a large predatory feline is on the prowl have been rife since Frank and fellow big cat expert Rick Minter examined the first gutted roe deer in a field off Selsley Hill on January 6.

The way it had been killed and devoured led them to suspect it was the victim of either of a puma, jaguar or leopard – a claim backed up by a string of fresh big cat sightings in the area in recent weeks.

Hopes of securing concrete evidence were dashed on Thursday however, when the university’s school of life sciences announced it had not detected any cat DNA on the corpses after almost a month of tests.

"Other than deer, by far the strongest genetic signal we found was from a fox," said Dr Robin Allaby, who took 45 saliva samples for analysis.

"That fox DNA was found on the ribs, legs and plucking sites."

But Frank, who discussed the topic on BBC Radio 4’s the Today Programme this week, is adamant a fox could not have brought down the deer.

"It is out of their league," he said.

"We would have to have a race of giant mutant foxes roaming the countryside – they just do not have the jaw power to bite through a deer’s wind pipe."

He added it is ‘undeniable’ that big cats are prowling the country.

"The more than 2,500 sightings reported throughout the UK cements the fact that big cats are out there.

"These are not mythical creatures like dragons or the Loch Ness Monster. They are real, tangible animals that are living off the abundant wildlife in our countryside."

Rick Minter – author of Big Cats: Facing Britain’s Wild Predators, which features sightings reported in the Stroud Valleys – urged the authorities not to dismiss the phenomenon based on these results alone.

"The strong media interest in this case suggests an appetite to look into this subject further and recent community surveys in Gloucestershire have indicated a strong desire for big cat evidence to be researched carefully," he said.

"Maybe our outdoors can still hold surprises."