West Sussex

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Fernhurst
GHOST BEAR?
NEIGHBEARS.
Fernhurst is to be the site for an Australian ghost hunt. Australian television will be looking for a ghost bear, reputed to roam the Verdley Woods. The ghost is thought to be that of the last bear killed in Britain. Although few locals have ever heard of the spectre, it is recorded in two ghost reference books; The A-Z of British Ghosts and The Good Ghost Guide. The phantom bear is believed to have been haunting the woods for many years, which has made many rule out the possibility of it being a living, breathing bear. The general belief is that there have been no wild bears in Britain since the middle ages.

Horsham
WALLABIES
In 1908, Sir Edmund Loder introduced free roaming wallabies at Leonardslee Park, Lower Beeding, near Horsham. By the 1940s there were reports of a breeding colony moving around the area of Ashdown Forest and St Leonard’s Forest. In the 1960s they were reported near Storrington, Crawley and East Grinstead, and in 1970 a dead wallaby was found at Horsham.

Contributed & Written by: Lisa Willow

File: 1940-274

Ifileld
TARANTULA
Tarantula home plea
Rose the Chilean Rose Tarantula is in need of a new home as her owner Mr Mike Mortlake of The Millbank in Ifield is moving to Florida. The shipping fees for 11 year old Rose is £500 of which he cannot afford so he cant take her with him He said "It's a real shame. She's lovely. But I just can't take her." He has owned Rose four years and paid £30 for her and he insisted that she is very friendly.

He needs to find her a new home as he is leaving for America in the New Year. He added: "She's well tame. You can hold her all the time. She used to climb all over my head. I can even kiss her on the lips - she's never, ever, bitten me." Mr Mortlake also said: "I'm looking for someone who is not scared of spiders - someone who has a little bit of knowledge of tarantulas and has handled them before."

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DATE:	ANIMAL:	LOCATION:
4th March 2004	GHOST BEAR?	Fernhurst
20th October 2004	TARANTULA	Ifileld
1940's	WALLABIES	Horsham