The Sun
By JOHN COLES
A MYSTERY "big cat" stalking the Cotswolds is now thought to have devoured three WALLABIES.
A farmer found the mauled marsupials on private land 12 miles from Woodchester Park in Stroud, Gloucs, where the creature is thought to have first struck.
All three were stripped to the bone with their internal organs left beside their bodies.
They all had puncture wounds to the neck — consistent with an attack by a panther-like creature.
DNA results from two savaged deer carcasses found in the same area earlier this month are expected to reveal next week whether a big cat is on the loose.
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, said: "There could be no creature other than a big cat that could bring down and kill these wallabies.
"The field was surrounded by a 7ft fence and there were signs of entry so the predator must have leapt over it.
"The killer struck over two nights. The first night he killed two wallabies, stripped one of the carcasses down and hid the other under a pile of leaves and straw.
"Then he came back and killed a third — devouring his further kills. A fourth wallaby appears to have died from a heart attack.
"The wallabies are only about 12 miles from Woodchester so it appears that this could be the same big cat.
"They have all the hallmarks of a panther or puma kill."
The wallabies, part of a private collection, were found by their devastated owner on January 6, two days after the first deer kill was discovered at the National Trust-owned Woodchester Park.
The deer had been torn open and was missing its heart, kidneys and liver.
Its snout was also gone and big cats clamp their jaws over the mouth, causing death by suffocation.
Another deer carcass was found by a dog walker between Whiteway and Redcomb, near Cirencester — ten miles away — on January 10.
A third roe deer body was found at a development in Cooper's Edge, near Gloucester, days later.
Dr Robin Allaby, an expert in evolutionary genetics at Warwick University's School of Life Sciences, is studying samples of DNA taken from the first two deer carcasses.
He said: "I'm prepared to believe in the existence of big cats in the UK and we have a reasonable chance of finding out if it was there.
"We are in the process of studying samples of DNA taken from the deer and if its death was the result of a big cat then we're hoping it left cheek cells and saliva."
If you have any news on this item please let us know by leaving a comment or email bcib@btopenworld.com Please report any sightings at http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org/localreportform.htm If you wish to comment on any of the items please click the header of the story.
By JOHN COLES
A farmer found the mauled marsupials on private land 12 miles from Woodchester Park in Stroud, Gloucs, where the creature is thought to have first struck.
All three were stripped to the bone with their internal organs left beside their bodies.
They all had puncture wounds to the neck — consistent with an attack by a panther-like creature.
DNA results from two savaged deer carcasses found in the same area earlier this month are expected to reveal next week whether a big cat is on the loose.
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, said: "There could be no creature other than a big cat that could bring down and kill these wallabies.
"The field was surrounded by a 7ft fence and there were signs of entry so the predator must have leapt over it.
"The killer struck over two nights. The first night he killed two wallabies, stripped one of the carcasses down and hid the other under a pile of leaves and straw.
"Then he came back and killed a third — devouring his further kills. A fourth wallaby appears to have died from a heart attack.
"The wallabies are only about 12 miles from Woodchester so it appears that this could be the same big cat.
"They have all the hallmarks of a panther or puma kill."
The wallabies, part of a private collection, were found by their devastated owner on January 6, two days after the first deer kill was discovered at the National Trust-owned Woodchester Park.
The deer had been torn open and was missing its heart, kidneys and liver.
Its snout was also gone and big cats clamp their jaws over the mouth, causing death by suffocation.
Another deer carcass was found by a dog walker between Whiteway and Redcomb, near Cirencester — ten miles away — on January 10.
A third roe deer body was found at a development in Cooper's Edge, near Gloucester, days later.
Dr Robin Allaby, an expert in evolutionary genetics at Warwick University's School of Life Sciences, is studying samples of DNA taken from the first two deer carcasses.
He said: "I'm prepared to believe in the existence of big cats in the UK and we have a reasonable chance of finding out if it was there.
"We are in the process of studying samples of DNA taken from the deer and if its death was the result of a big cat then we're hoping it left cheek cells and saliva."
If you have any news on this item please let us know by leaving a comment or email bcib@btopenworld.com Please report any sightings at http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org/localreportform.htm If you wish to comment on any of the items please click the header of the story.
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