"Just look at that! "Wayne Nuttley shouted out in the middle of class one morning. "Farmer Braddon's trailer's just gone past. It had a great big dead cow on it!"

A killer creature is roaming the fields and hillsides around the village of Long Tussocks and most people are convinced that Ma Perkins's vicious-looking dog, Meatloaf, is the culprit.

But Charlie Coppins has a different theory, and when paw prints are clearly seen in the newly fallen snow it might have been better if people had listened to Charlie instead of jumping to hasty conclusions.