More than 200 sightings of big cats made over the last decade have been reported to Devon and Cornwall Police, which has opened its own “beast” files for the first time.

The force has logged 205 sightings from all over the two counties since 2000, although numbers have tailed off significantly in recent years.

The reports, which have been released under the Freedom of Information Act, peaked in 2000 when 30 incidents were recorded. However just seven sightings were made last year and only one was called in, in the first six months of this year.

Details of the phone calls range from straightforward details of times, locations and descriptions, to the somewhat strange.

One call recorded in February 2000, from the Roche area of Mid Cornwall, states: “Sighting of large cat-type creature. Caller stated that her son saw a large cat in fields behind their farm in the last five minutes or so.

“Caller stated that it has disappeared again but she wanted to know if they could shoot it, if seen again, or is it protected?” Seven months later, a member of the public from Axminster said: “The beast of Bodmin Moor is in the top of my garden lying down digesting his dinner. I called you 30 minutes ago re. this.”

Another member of the public reported seeing a man with a tiger on a lead near Millbrook, in South East Cornwall, while a child told police that there was a tiger on the loose in Plymstock.

Sightings came in from all over the two counties, often from motorists and walkers. Almost all insisted that what they had seen was not a cat or a dog.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said no action was usually taken on the reports but said officers would be deployed if there was “a real and immediate threat to the public”.

“It’s surprising how many reports Devon and Cornwall Police receive of big cat sightings and so it’s important we deploy our resources sensibly and appropriately,” he said.

“We would usually log the information and inform local officers, so they’re aware of this information and no further action would usually be taken.

“However, if there is a real and immediate threat to the public, or if the animal is trapped for example, then appropriate police resources would be deployed.

“In the past, valuable police resources have been deployed and have spent time searching for an animal without success and so these days a more pragmatic and sensible approach is taken.”

In August, the Centre for Fortean Zoology, based at Woolfardisworthy, kicked off its annual conference by unveiling evidence that they claim proves that big cats were running wild in Devon over 100 years ago – and that they are still here today. The evidence includes the body of a lynx that was shot in mid-Devon just over a century ago, and leopard hairs and plaster-cast paw prints found recently near Woolfardisworthy that have been positively identified by independent experts.

However, despite a growing body of evidence and countless claimed sightings by members of the public, Britain’s environment watchdog has ruled out the existence of big cats.

Last year, Natural England said it was “confident that there is no breeding population of big cats” in the UK after releasing a list of the exotic species reported to it by the public.

The agency’s list contained several reports from Devon and Cornwall over the past five years, ranging from big cats to wild boar and even a wallaroo – a kind of kangaroo.