Jahid Choudhury says he dramatically filmed the beast from yards away as he drove home from work at 4.30am on Sunday
A STUNNED cab driver believes he's captured sensational footage of the legendary 'big cat of St Albans'.
Jahid Choudhury says he dramatically filmed the beast from yards away as he drove home from work at 4.30am on Sunday.
The quick-thinking cabbie pulled over and filmed the animal - which has been described as looking like a deadly puma.
Footage shows the animal at the side of the road before noticing the headlights from the taxi on secluded Napsbury Lane in St Albans, Herts.
The creature then calmly stalks its way down from the road and into bushes lying below.
Legend of the mysterious beast comes after a number of sightings in the St Albans area over the last few years.
Speculation increased in April when the mutilated remains of a deer were found by a dog walker in nearby Wheathampstead.
Jahid called police after getting home and claims he is certain his footage shows the big cat
He said: "It definitely wasn't a domestic cat. When I stopped and reversed it just stared at me.
"I wasn't scared or anything. But I was shocked, it was very strange.
"It stared at me and then got up and went into the woods.
";I have seen lots of big deer and foxes, but this is the wildest animal I have ever seen."
In January, two staff members at Oaklands College in St Albans spotted "a large, sandy-coloured cat".
In other recent incidents, deep scratch marks were found carved on a tree after a "huge animal" was seen near Welwyn Garden City and a burly "muscled" cat bounded in front of a car across a road near Redbourn.
Hertfordshire Police have been inundated with more than 30 reports of big cats in the last five years alone.
Pumas, also known as cougars, mountain lions, and panthers, range across the Rocky Mountains of North America and the Andes of South America.
A big male will reach almost eight feet in length and weigh up to 220lbs while a female can often be over six feet long and hit 140lbs.
The muscular cats can leap up to 18 feet into the air and hit speeds of 40-50mph in short bursts.
Pumas will kill everything from rabbits and birds to sheep, deer, goats and other livestock.
The super-smart creatures are highly adaptable.
They are able to survive and thrive in many different environments - making it possible they are flourishing deep in the English countryside.
