Chief Inspector Mark Mason a wildlife liaison officer said: This animal has been born and bred in captivity – it’s used to

Chief Inspector Mark Mason, a wildlife liaison officer, said: “This animal has been born and bred in captivity – it’s used to being fed on dead animals, like dead birds or bits of meat. It said the animal was an “amateur” predator that was used to having its meals provided.Police have stressed that the puma, which normally attacks only weak or lame animals, poses a negligible risk to humans. One farmer said fatal injuries it caused to his sheep were “the worst I have seen in 60 years”.The puma is thought to have escaped from a private collector who has as yet not come forward to claim ownership of the animal. Officers hope that if the beast is captured, its owner can be found and possibly prosecuted.The animal charity USPCA confirmed that the escaped cat was a puma last month. They are focusing on a 10-mile area between Ballycastle and Coleraine, where the wild cat has been seen on many occasions.Since it escaped five weeks ago, the puma has killed at least four sheep, but it has been keeping a low profile in the past few days.Farmers believe the cat is living in a remote area of woodland known as the Virgin Moss. Most Christmas toys left factories in the Far East10 weeks ago and are currently stored around the country.Ben Green, the Batr vice- chairman, said: “There is a certain amount you can’t predict.

When Beyblades [the spinning top] came in last February they did not sell, but in May they suddenly became a hit in the playgrounds and the kids caught us all off guard.”PREDICTIONS OF TOP 10 TOYS* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – dolls* Boohbah – soft toy* Barbie Swan Lake – dolls* Yu-Gi-Oh! – trading card game* Bionicles – action figures from Lego* Beyblades Radio Control – programmable spinning tops* Cranium – board game* LeapPad Learning System – educational toy* Bratz Winter Collection – dolls* Badge It – badge maker. The Winter Collection girls, Yasmin, Jade and Cloe, wear worn denim jeans with diamante belts and T-shirts with brazen logos.No strangers to reinvention, the makers of Barbie have risen to the challenge with the My Scene range of girls, into music and fashion. Their elder sisters in the new Flavas range have limbs articulated for tough poses and threaten to knock you out with their “bling” attitude. The more sedate Barbie Swan Lake replaces last year’s Rapunzel Barbie and is tipped to be in the 10 bestsellers.Batr, whose retailers account for 75 per cent of Britain’s £2bn toy industry, last year correctly predicted six of the 10 bestsellers, in what some observers believe is an exercise in self-fulfilling prophecies. It’s not surprising that those toys that thrilled children 20 years ago can still appeal to kids today. Brands are important, but the success of a toy relies on its ‘playability’.

Equipped with bulging muscles, mobile phones and an optional rocket launcher, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is tipped to lead an Eighties revival in toy stores this Christmas.
The amphibian posse of Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael are among the favourites to become the season’s bestselling toy, thanks to a makeover and a 26-episode cartoon series running on ITV.The British Association of Toy Retailers (Batr), which made its predictions yesterday for the top 10 toys, said it expected to see some of the greatest gains this year from makers who had decided to go back to the future.Apart from the turtles, who first rose from the sewers of New York in 1989, revival from that decade is expected in the cuddly section from My Little Pony and Care Bears. Skintight grey marl salopettes were worn with the straps hanging free; little hooded tops were backless and halterneck; and leggings were reduced to nothing more than criss-cross ribbons of material snaking up and down legs.More voluminous – although still athletically inspired – were canary yellow parachute silk boxer shorts and a strapless minidress.. The style, although relaxed, is never bland.Miki Fukai’s collection, shown afterwards, could hardly have been more different. Here was a look so unforgiving and body-conscious it recalled the designs of Azzedine Alaia and even the bandage dresses of Herve Leger.Fukai has taken these references, fused them with the sportswear tradition and then intelligently deconstructed them. Look more closely, and there are subtle twists: trousers are cut deliberately short; powder blue round-neck sweaters that could have come from the menswear department of Marks & Spencer are made ofLurex.Any quirks aside, there is a gentleness at play here that epitomises the new generation of British-trained designers uninterested in razor-sharp tailoring and pyrotechnic displays These are clothes that are more considerate to the wearer.

On the face of it, his designs can seem remarkably normal – square, even. Think of gardens and you think of Gertrude Stein? Peter Jensen does, and has included a print with a watering can motif in his spring/summer 2004 collection, entitled “Gertrude” in a tribute to the avant-garde writer.
Elsewhere in the collection, shown in London yesterday, Stein’s lesbianism and bohemianism were the inspiration for gender fluidity – salmon pink shorts for him, an oversized striped shirt dress with waistcoat for her.If this all sounds a little po-faced, remember that Jensen is a designer known for his humorous take on clothes. His body has never been found.Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee went missing in 1972 Reports suggest the IRA thought they were informers. The IRA said they were buried in Co Meath but they have not been found.Danny McIlhone from west Belfast disappeared in 1981, apparently accused by the IRA of stealing weapons His body was said to be buried in Co Wicklow.. Think of watering cans and you think of gardens. They were said to have used IRA guns to carry out a robbery.Still MissingAn unsuccessful search was recently carried out for Columba McVeigh, who went missing in Co Tyrone in 1975, aged 17.