She said her golden Labrador Zak was up in the pines while she was walking when he suddenly took off towards the road behind her.

“I turned and saw what I thought was a fox’s tail–long, fluffy and red-gold–with the dog after it,” Ms Goodwin said.

“They emerged from the pines and the animal leapt across the road.

“At that point both animals were in profile and about 5m from me.

“It was as big as the dog (big) but skinnier and very muscular and it had very small ears close to its head and a large dark face.

“It was the reddy gold colour of a setter.

“It moved like a cat not a fox/dog and I am sure that if it had been a dog Zak would have approached it very differently as he is friendly, submissive and very polite in his dealings with other dogs.

“It leapt into the bush and outran the dog who returned about five minutes later with his hackles still up and very excited.”

Have you seen this animal, or have an idea what it is?

Is it the ‘coupan’ of local legend?

If you can help, contact The Mail on 9757 2266 or email editor.amrmail@ruralpress.com