ANIMAL welfare experts have sprung into action amid reports that a kangaroo is prowling a park and attacking dogs.

Several people have apparently made sightings and one woman claims her dog was kicked out of the undergrowth by the antipodean beast.

Members of Lewisham Council's animal welfare department have made repeated visits to the park and golf course in London to look for evidence.

So far they have not spotted the 6ft creature but they have found a set of prints "which could be those of a kangaroo".

Jim Horn, manager at Beckenham Place Park, said a number of golfers had reported seeing the animal.

The latest sighting was made by two women who were walking their dogs.

"They were visibly distressed. One claimed her dog had been kicked by the creature and came flying out of the bushes," Mr Horn said.

Another park worker, who did not want to be named, said that a number of tall shrubs in the park had been pulled down and eaten.

"This could only be the work of a tall creature, like a kangaroo. We just don't know where it could have come from."

A council spokesman said officers were keeping an open mind and urged people not to go in search of the animal.

l Police were last night also hunting a three-year-old crocodile which was bundled into a sack and stolen from a zoo's reptile house.

West Midlands Police said the 2kg West African dwarf crocodile was taken by thieves early yesterday from Dudley Zoo's Castle Hill site