Essex 'lion': Brief guide to tracking big cats

The paw print of a lion can be the size of an outstretched hand

When police learned a suspected lion was on the loose in an Essex village, they brought in helicopters with thermal imaging kit and experts from a nearby zoo.

That search, which took place on Sunday and Monday, has now been called off after they were unable to "find any trace of any animal".

The most likely explanation for the sighting now appears to be that the suspected big cat was Ginny Murphy's pet Teddy Bear, a three-year-old Maine Coon cat.

The drama, which unfolded over the bank holiday, has amused those for whom tracking big cats is a day job.

Rich Laburn, of the Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa's Kruger National Park, told BBC News there are simple things to look out for - the most obvious being paw prints.

'Listen for growl'

"They are unmistakeable," he said. "If you take your hand and spread it out on the floor, then the circumference of a man sized hand will be about the size of a male lion's paw print.

"A female lion's paw is slightly smaller," said Mr Laburn.

"You can also look for dirt inside the tracks as other creatures have moved over it - that will give you an indication of how fresh the tracks are," said Mr Laburn.

Asked whether the recently well-watered soils of Essex would be a harder place to find lion paw tracks, Mr Laburn said: "No, in the mud it will be easier. We find that tracks left in the mud of river beds are the easiest to track."

He told how trackers, once they have found their lions, had to listen "very closely" for the sound of a growl.

"A lion will growl a warning," he said, "and the growl will get louder as a person gets nearer.

"Eventually, it will either run away or it will charge at you," he said. "And you don't want a lion to charge at you."