THE grizzly find of a half-eaten deer in the car park of The South Bucks Star offices could be the work of the Beast of Bucks, says an animal expert.

Trevor Smith, who yesterday examined the mauled body in Gomm Road, High Wycombe, said: "This is quite incredible. This is not the work of foxes. If you look, this animal's rib cage has been chewed off. It is very possible that this is the work of a big cat."

The small muntjac deer was found by shocked Star staff as they arrived for work on Tuesday.

The back legs of the animal had been stripped of flesh.

Neil Sainsbury, a Star photographer, said he had to cover his nose because of the rotting smell.

He added: "It really was quite disgusting - but it certainly looked as if something had had quite a few meals out of it.

"What sort of beast would do this?"

Thames Valley Police believes a large cat is on the loose in the Wycombe area after a Puma was spotted at Wycombe Heights Golf Course in Rayners Avenue, High Wycombe, almost two weeks ago.

Plastercasts of prints found at the course were matched to those of a big cat by independent experts.

Trevor Smith, who lives in High Wycombe and trains animals for TV with his company Animal World, was drafted in by concerned officers to catch the animal and get it into a zoo.

He explained that The Star's car park, which is just down the road from the golf club, is the perfect habitat for a predator because it backed onto open fields and was surrounded by woodland and shrubbery.

He added: "At 2am or 3am this is as quiet as anywhere.

"The thing I'm still waiting for is a positive ID. All these things are slowly adding up and putting the jigsaw together."