A BRISTOL barber believes he may have captured the paw print of a big cat stalking hills south of Bristol.

Luigi Armato, 32, a barber in the city centre, snapped the print on his phone near the village of Binegar in the Mendip hills while out on a shooting trip with his father and brother.

Mr Armato, of Muller Road in Eastville, says he has never seen anything like it before, and big cat experts have told the Evening Post that the print certainly raises some interesting questions due to its size.

Mr Armato's photo had not been shown to anyone outside of his family until yesterday, when he read news of more possible big cat sightings near Stroud, Gloucestershire.

The Mendips have been the site of several claimed big cat sightings in recent years and Mr Armato believes the picture could provide further proof at least one lives there.

Describing the circumstances in which he spotted the footprint, Mr Armato said: "It was early morning at the crack of dawn last summer.

"My dad and brother had gone separate ways and I came across this giant print. As soon as I saw it I called them straight away and they came over to have a look.

"We were just shocked. We all just stood around thinking, what it could be? None of us could work it out. Not even my dad, who knows a bit about animals from his family."

Mr Armato's find matches recent sightings across the West Country of large cats.

Last month DNA tests were carried out on the carcasses of several deer found dead at Woodchester Park, near Stroud. The tests found no evidence of a big cat being involved in the animals' deaths.

But yesterday footage shot nearby and allegedly showing a large cat, believed to be the same size as a young leopard, was published online.

In December there were eyewitness reports of a large cat near a shooting ground in the Mendips.

Mr Armato believes there must be some substance in all the reports.

He said: "It's got to be some sort of big cat. There's no way the print I photographed is a fox or even a deer – they're too small."

When taking the picture Mr Amato placed the trigger of his Webley & Scott semi-automatic shotgun next to it to give an idea of scale.

He said: "I've had it for a while on my phone. I was thinking about sending it in when the last lot of sightings came up, then more news came in and I thought it has to be something to do with this big cat.

"I am very interested to know what it really is. If it does turn out to be a beast, I'll be a lot more wary next time I go up shooting.

"I certainly wouldn't go up there on my own, put it that way."

The Avon Wildlife Trust told the Post that the prints are unlikely to be those of a fox – unless it was a very large one.

Gloucestershire big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, who has studied evidence from several recent sightings has also looked at Mr Armato's picture. He said: "Some cats do exhibit claw marks like these. The location makes it rather suspicious.

"It's hard to tell from just one print but I wouldn't rule it out.

"These big cats are definitely out there. I'm getting around two sightings a week from locals and nationally – we're getting more and more sightings every year."

Rick Minter, author of Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, said: "We have seen reports of sightings on the Mendips. There's plenty of cover and caves up there, very suitable conditions and the right food for a big cat to survive."

In the past five years other big cat sightings have been reported in Midsomer Norton, Shipham and Wedmore.

Deaths of sheep and lambs in the Mendips have also been blamed on big cats.

In November 2008 some 28 sheep were savaged over a three-week period at a farm at Stoke St Michael, five months after four sheep were savaged in a similar incident near Cheddar.