A puma at large
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
Where must the puma have come from?
Pumas are large, cat-like animals | which are found in America.
When reports came into London Zoo | that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously.
However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo | felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions | given by people who claimed to have seen the puma | were extraordinarily similar.
The hunt for the puma began in a small village | where a woman | picking blackberries | saw ‘a large cat’ | only five yards away from her.
It immediately ran away | when she saw it, and experts confirmed | that a puma will not attack a human being | unless it is cornered.
The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed | at one place in the morning | and at another place | twenty miles away in the evening.
Wherever it went, it left behind it | a trail of dead deer | and small animals like rabbits.
Paw prints were seen | in a number of places | and puma fur was found clinging to bushes.
Several people complained | of ‘cat-like noises’ at night | and a businessman | on a fishing trip | saw the puma up a tree.
The experts were now fully convinced | that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from?
As no pumas had been reported | missing from any zoo | in the country, this one must have been | in the possession | of a private collector | and somehow managed to escape.
The hunt went on | for several weeks, but the puma was not caught.
It is disturbing to think | that a dangerous wild animal | is still at large | in the quiet countryside.