TALES of Bodmin's beast and alleged sightings of great white sharks abound at this time of year, but real confirmed sightings have been made of more cuddly critters that are not native to this country.

A man living in Devon got quite a shock when he looked out across his back garden and saw a wallaby, native to New Zealand and Australia, bounding around a nearby field.

And, while Bodmin Moor in Cornwall is rumoured to be home to at least one big cat, it was a dog that caused a stir there – a North American prairie dog. The creature, a large rodent related to the squirrel, was spotted on Goss Moor.

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The wallaby was seen by David Evans, 60, and his family, jumping about in a field by their house in Teignmouth.

Mr Evans, who owns Higher Holcombe Farm Holiday Cottages, said: "It seemed very friendly and it wasn't scared to see us."

No zoos or breeding centres have reported any lost wallabies, so Mr Evans assumes it is an escapee, or a descendent of one, from a group that were kept as pets in nearby Holcombe in the 1970s. The UK's only official breeding population is on the Isle of Man.

Prairie dogs are usually found in the US, Canada, and Mexico in large colonies, or "towns", which can span hundreds of acres. But Godfrey and Linda Stevens were stunned to come across one of them during a day out on Goss Moor.

The couple were about to walk along the moor's nature trail when they spotted the burrowing rodent. Thought to have escaped from a private collector, it has adapted perfectly to its new environment.

Mr Stevens, from Penzance, said: "We had never seen anything like it before.

"We weren't sure what it was – it reminded me of a marmot. It was up on its hind legs with its nose in the air.

"If I went within about eight feet of it, it would run up one of the drainage pipes, but if I waited for about five minutes it would come out again.

Stewart Muir, managing director of Newquay Zoo, who identified the vegetarian prairie dog, said: "It is unusual, but it is not as uncommon as people think. Prairie dogs have been kept in captivity here for a very long time – since the 1800s.

"It is most likely that this one has escaped from a private collector. They would not make very good house pets, but they would be easy enough to keep in the garden. But then they do dig – and escape."