Police in the North were combing miles of forest, hillside and bog on the north coast today in a hunt for two big cats - thought to be a puma and a panther - which have eluded capture for nearly eight weeks.
A helicopter and police spotter plane with heat-seeking equipment were being used in the dawn-to-dusk search for the animals in rural Co Antrim.
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A puma, like the one thought to be roaming Co Antrim.
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The hunt follows more than 20 sightings of a big cat since early August, and a string of sheep kills.
"We are pretty convinced there's more than one," said Mr David Wilson of the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is co-ordinating the search from its Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre near Ballybogy.
"There have been two distinct reports," he said. "One is of a black animal with a rope-like tail we feel is a panther, and the other is of a much lighter coloured animal which seems to be a puma."
The USPCA hopes to be able to capture the cat, or cats, alive using tranquiliser dart guns, but police marksmen are standing by just in case.
Strict laws banning the keeping of dangerous animals as pets do not apply to Northern Ireland, and USPCA officers believe the big cats have escaped or been released from a private home.
"It'll cost you a fiver for a licence to keep a dog but you can keep a tiger here for nothing," said Mr Wilson, adding the USPCA wanted to see the tough laws extended to the North.
"We have four tigers here that came from private collections - kept in chicken-wire cages at the back of a house."