BIG CATS IN BRITAIN

Beast of Stroud big cat suspected of killing three wallabies

2012-01-26T12:40:00.002Z

The Mirror
26/01/2012
Three wallabies have been found mauled to death just weeks after a puma-like creature is believed to have killed three deer.
The mutilated bodies were found in the same area where it is thought a big cat – dubbed the Beast of Stroud – savaged three roe deer.
Wildlife expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, said yesterday: “No creature other than a big cat could bring down and kill these wallabies.

“The field was surrounded by a 7ft fence and there was no apparent entry sign. It must have leapt over it.”

The animals, part of a private collection, were kept in a farmer’s field in the Cotswolds, just 12 miles from where the first deer’s body was found in Stroud, Glos.
Warwick University experts are studying DNA samples from its carcass

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Beast of Bleadney 'puma' seen by rally driver

2012-01-26T12:39:00.001Z

The Wells Journal
Saturday, January 21, 2012

Is the Beast of Bleadney back?
Last year there were numerous reported sightings of a big cat roaming the hills and levels around Bleadney and Henton, just outside Wells.
Now one of the clearest sightings yet has been made by a rally driving team on the levels between Bleadney and Godney.
Rally driver Colin Knott of Congresbury was taking part in a navigational exercise on Thursday night with his wife Jan as a co-driver.
As they drove down Leaze Drove on the way to Godney and rounded a bend they were stunned by the sight of a big cat 50 yards distant.
Colin said: "It looked to us like it was a puma.
"It was about the size of a labrador or an alsatian, sandy coloured and most definitely a cat.
"The way that it ran gave it away, using its tail to maintain its balance."
"We both saw it perfectly clearly in the headlights. It ran along the edge of the rhyne and then vanished into the ditch."
Colin and Jan's navigational skills allowed them to record the exact location of the sighting.
On Friday the Wells Journal visited the scene – and found what could be crucial evidence of the cat's existence.
A row of at least a dozen clear paw prints in the mud ran along the edge of the narrow country road.
Danny Bamping from the British Big Cats Society said that he could not say for certain that the images were those of a big cat's paw print, but he did not rule it out.
"There is a fifty-fifty chance that these are big cat prints," he said.
But he added they could also be from a dog – they have characteristics of both dog and cat prints, so they are hard to identify.
The large pad to the rear of the print indicates a cat's paw.
Dog paws feature an indentation which gives the print a U-shape.
But cats rarely run with their claws out, unless they are leaping – and this print clearly shows the presence of a single claw.
"Dog prints are often mistaken for cat prints," he said. "But I simply can't be sure with this one."
Mr Bamping said he would pass the picture on to fellow big cat experts for their opinion. Other reports of a big cat on the Somerset Levels have emerged over the past few weeks, with sightings at Meare and at Pilton – see page 16.
Have you seen evidence of a big cat around Wells? Did you walk a large dog along Leaze Drove at the end of last week? Call 01749 832335.

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Reporter on the prowl for big cats in Gloucestershire

2012-01-26T12:38:00.000Z

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Citizen

CITIZEN Chief Reporter Ben Falconer went on the hunt for evidence of big cats at a secret location in Gloucestershire with expert Frank Tunbridge:
I HAVE passed this secret big cat hot spot in the west of Gloucestershire several thousand times but a sighting has always eluded me.
Then again, I've never looked for one.
But the witnesses who have contacted tracker Frank Tunbridge weren't expecting to see a big cat slink through the undergrowth either.
That's why we are in a copse checking batteries and memory cards in Frank's trip cameras.
They are lashed to trees and posts along possible big cat thoroughfares, to try and catch its movements – and very existence – on video.
So far, the cameras sited across Gloucestershire have captured deer, dogs, wild boar, and even the odd reveller on the way home from the pub. And the cameras, like those used in BBC TV's Lost Land of the Tiger, may even have caught the moment a big cat wandered by.
"It's difficult to say categorically, but we have had a few where movement has been detected and then it whites out because they're too near," said Frank, who has seen what he believed to be a big cat four times in the British countryside. Several sightings around this spot prompted Frank to set up the cameras here but there are other ways of detecting its presence.
"I can smell where a cat has been before," says Frank, as he inhales a good noseful of the bark which may have been urinated on by the elusive mog.
Tracking
"If it's fresh, then you can pick it up – it smells like a domestic cat, iodine-like, but more powerful. They can also leave droppings around the tree."
Frank sometimes collects these, boils them down, and sieves them for evidence of what it's been eating. It's a good job he's got a strong stomach and a wife who presumably tolerates such behaviour. Trained in tracking by an ex-special forces member, he's alert to changes in the countryside most of us would never notice.
He points out footprints of dogs, deer, stoats and badgers while we are there. Sadly, no big cat prints however.
After servicing the cameras, Frank wipes a fetid-smelling dog meat roll over the tree, right in the middle of the camera shot. Its smell is pretty awful but it could be enough to tempt a big cat into the frame.
He's been fascinated by these creatures ever since his dad struck up a friendship with a Regent's Park Zoo keeper who sneaked young Frank in, free-of-charge, before opening time.
Then the Surrey puma captured his imagination in the 1960s and he's been on the trail of big cats ever since.
He fears big cats could be persecuted, mainly due to ill-informed public fear, if the DNA tests prove positive.
"These cats have been out there for many years," he said. "There has not been one attack in the UK. They are existing on an ample supply of wildlife including deer, and they are doing the environment a favour by keeping their population in check."

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Three wallabies found savaged to death by big cat after mystery predator stalking the Cotswolds strikes again

2012-01-26T12:35:00.001Z

Trio found stripped to the bone with internal organs neatly placed beside their bodies
Experts believe the Wildcat of Woodchester is behind the attack following deaths of three deer this month
Mutilated wallabies found 12 miles from where big cat is first believed to have struck

Mail on Line

By Anthony Bond
Last updated at 6:31 PM on 25th January 2012

A mysterious blood-thirsty wild cat is feared to have struck again after three wallabies were found devoured on farmland.
The trio were found stripped to the bone, with their internal organs neatly placed beside their bodies.
Examinations revealed they had suffered puncture wounds to the neck - consistent with a vicious attack by a panther-like creature.

Devoured: The remains of one of the wallabies which is believed to have been killed by the Wildcat of Woodchester, which is feared to have killed three deer earlier this month
Experts now believe the animals were devoured by the Wildcat of Woodchester which is already believed to have killed three times this month.
The mutilated bodies of three deer have been found in the past few weeks in countryside near Stroud, Gloucestershire - just 12 miles from where the wallabies were mauled to death.
The wallabies were found only 12 miles apart leading to the belief that it was the same cat
Samples of DNA from the predator's first deer kill on January 4 are currently being tested to confirm whether or not a big cat is behind the killings.
The results are expected to be revealed over the next few days.
But big cat expert Frank Tunbridge is in no doubt over who killed the wallabies and the deer.
Mr 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 was no apparent entry signs - 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 apparent first kill by the Wildcat of Woodchester.
The Gloucestershire farmer did not want to divulge his name or location.

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Farmers Weekly Launches Big Cat Hunt

2012-01-26T12:32:00.002Z

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/25/01/2012/131158/Farmers-Weekly-launches-big-cat-hunt.htm

25th January 2012

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'Big cat has eaten

2012-01-26T12:31:00.000Z

The Sun
By JOHN COLES

Published: 25 Jan 2012

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."

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Further sightings of the Anstey panther

2012-01-26T12:20:00.003Z

The Mercury
By Priya Gulraj

A MOTORIST who saw a "big black cat" running across a field believes she has seen the Anstey panther.
Hollie Walsh was driving along London Road at around 3pm last Tuesday (January 17) when she spotted the wild-cat-like creature.
She told the Mercury: “I saw a big black cat running in the far fields along London Road just past the turning for Anstey, while looking for the numerous deer spotted there regularly.
“I got home to search sightings after I thought I might be seeing things, and found [the story on your website].
“It was an incredible sight, and thanks for confirming I wasn’t seeing things.”
There have been three previous sightings of the big cat in the village, with the most recent sighting in September last year.
Prior to that there was a sighting in 1998, and a third is rumoured to have occurred in the village some 20 years ago.

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Could the Tamworth beast live at Drayton Bassett?

2012-01-26T12:20:00.000Z

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
This is Tamworth

SIGHTINGS of the mystery big cat have been fairly regular – but one man contacted the Herald to say that he believes he heard the beast in Drayton Bassett.
The 40-year-old, who lives in the village, said: “I would like to share an experience I had back in December 2010.
“It was dark and early to mid-evening when I was walking my dog away from the village green, down Heathley Lane. I’d walked about 30 feet past the WI hut with some back garden fences to my left and Drayton Manor Golf Course to the left behind the chain link fence.
“It was a quiet evening with some light available once my eyes had adjusted to the dark. I heard a loud cat wailing sound for about four seconds, not a domestic cat as it was too deep and rich in tone, coming from some trees and bush approximately 25-30 feet the other side of the chain link fence. I couldn’t see anything but realised just how deathly quiet it was. Both me and the dog froze for a while, maybe a minute or two. The sound was just like the call of a wild cat.
“I was shocked, wondering what I had heard, carried on with the walk and heard no more and saw nothing but I will never forget the sound and how close it sounded.
“After seeing the comments from the keeper at Drayton Manor Zoo, I have realised that perhaps I wasn’t going mad and that what I heard that night was possibly a big cat.
“As I didn’t see anything, it’s too easy for people to ridicule, so I don’t want to give my name or address but I promise that I have not embellished anything here and have nothing to gain by making false claims
particularly so long after the event.
“I hope this helps build up a picture of whatever is out there.”

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Is this the Big Beast of Tamworth?

2012-01-26T12:18:00.002Z

Tamworth Herald
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

THE LATEST tales of the big cat said to be roaming the area have prompted yet more people to come forward.
Last week we reported how the cat had been spotted in Bluebell Woods in Polesworth and several readers have noticed large prints which they think may be those of a panther-like creature – but others think are dog paw prints.
This week, a reader who wishes to remain anonymous, reveals the moment he believes he heard the mystery big cat in Drayton Bassett.
Another reader, Jason Coggins, believes he saw the big cat drinking from a pool at a fishery near Atherstone.
Jason told the Herald: “A couple of weeks before Christmas I paid a visit to a friend of mine who was fishing at the Riddings Fishery in Grendon.
“As I was walking around their specimen pool I could see something in the reeds drinking from the water of the next pool along known as the Crucian pool.
“I stood and watched what I’m 100 per cent sure was a panther, for a couple of minutes before it turned, walked across the bank and disappeared through the bushes and out of sight into the adjoining field. It was out of range of the camera on my phone, and obscured by bushes so I was unable to get a photo.
“In no way could this have been a dog of any sort, but then the same week in the Herald, there was a story of a sighting near Wood End, which is only a couple of miles away.”
Tom Everitt owns Riddings Fishery at Grendon.
He said: “I think it’s quite plausible that there could be a big cat in the area, but I have never seen anything.
“We do have a black Alsatian which drinks out of the pool – it may have been that which was seen.”

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Dog walker: I've seen a big cat in Woodchester Park

2012-01-26T12:17:00.000Z

The Citizen
Monday, January 23, 2012

A PROFESSIONAL dog walker has spoken of her shock after she confronted a suspected big cat.
Sarah Johnson was in Woodchester Park when she came across the find last Monday.
"I'm pretty sure I saw something," said Sarah, who was walking her own working cocker and American cocker at the time.
"I thought it was a black Labrador at first, with it's tail up.
"It was a good 100 yards in front and I walked on but it had gone.
"It was a very brief sighting but it didn't behave like a dog in the way it walked and the way it reacted to my dogs."
Mrs Johnson, from Dursley, walks up to eight miles a day in Woodchester Park, three or four times a week.
The week before she made the sighting she met two national newspaper reporters in the woods, hunting for the black cat which is rapidly turning from myth to reality.
Another dog walker has also reported finding the savaged leg of a deer in Uplands, Stroud, last Wednesday.
Big cat tracker Frank Tunbridge was put in touch with both by The Citizen and is investigating.
"A leg was found near Uplands Park," said Mr Tunbridge.
"It was most probably a big cat – they will eat down so far, then leave it and the rest will be scavenged."
There have now been at least seven reports of either big cats or savaged suspected victim carcasses in recent weeks.
The first find to spark public interest, a carcass on National Trust land at Boundary Farm near Woodchester Park is now believed to be one of three in the area in the same week.
DNA samples were taken from the carcass by Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick. Samples were also taken from another site near Dursley where a deer was killed on New Year's Day, and a large black cat has been seen by residents in recent months.
Then, a woman walking her dog between Whiteway and Rendcomb came across the mutilated carcass of a roe deer on Tuesday, January 10.
And on Thursday, January 12 a dog walker saw a black panther-like creature near the Ram Inn, South Woodchester.
Then on Thursday, January 19, we reported on another carcass find at the new Cooper's Edge development, a housing estate in Brockworth.
Shocked workers on the development said they were sceptical about big cats until now.
It remains the most urban area to have had a report.
Mr Tunbridge, who has documented hundreds of sightings and carcass finds over decades in the county, was hopeful of getting DNA evidence from the Cooper's Edge deer carcass.
He was not surprised to hear of another sighting in the Woodchester area.
"It seems to be coming back to that zone," he said.
"They are attracted by dogs.
"Typically, they would not go for a pack of dogs but they might stalk one or two if the chance arose."

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Are big cats prowling the NW?

2012-01-26T12:16:00.000Z

The Derry Journal
Thursday 26 January 2012

Published on Sunday 22 January 2012 00:34

In the coming days scientists at Warwick University will have completed tests on two deer carcasses believed to have been mauled by a big cat roaming the Gloucestershire countryside in England. But could big cats - puma, panther and lynx like creatures - be prowling much closer to home?

It may seem hard to believe to many, but six big cat sightings have been reported to police in the north west over recent years.
Details released to the ‘Journal’ by the PSNI under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that reports of big cat sightings have been recorded in Derry, Strabane and Limavady over the last decade.
In June 2007, the PSNI’s Wildlife Liaison Office was notified of a report that a tiger or puma was on the loose in the Foyle area, while in April 2009 a “fawn coloured large cat” was reportedly sighted in Strabane.
Strabane, it seems is the big cat capital of the north west, with two further sightings in recent years.
Back in February 2005, “a very big black cat” was also sighted in the area, while a “large black cat” was also spotted in there in 2004.
Across the north west, and in December of the same year, police received reports of a puma prowling in the Limavady area.
In June of 2004 “ a large black cat” was also spotted near the Co Derry town.
Since 2004, police in the north have received reports of more than 50 suspected sightings, including “a large black cat” and a “sandy mountain lion” in the Cookstown area, a “black panther “ in Armagh, and a “large cat the size of a great Dane/female lion” in the Ballymena area.
Sightings of big cats have been reported across the border too.
In 2008, the discovery of paw prints and a dead sheep in the fields around Manorcunningham in Donegal gave rise to fears a big cat was on the loose.
Chris Johnston, an English based big cat researcher of more than 20 years experience, yesterday told the ‘Journal’ that while many people will be dubious about the existence of big cats on these shores, there is evidence to suggest otherwise.
“There is evidence that big cats have been and our today roaming the countryside, but it is how we define and interpret this eviden
“Anyone who researches sightings of big cats will come across the evidence, it may be not be visually seeing the animal itself, but finding signs and clues it leaves behind.
“These may be deer kills or attacks on livestock, scats, scrapes and scratch marks, these signs are invaluable to a researcher and do prove the existence of big cats living around us. But to many other people, and understandably so, this evidence is just not enough.”
He says that attitude may change if the DNA testing at Warwick University proves conclusive.
The expert says the most common sightings are likely to be “leopards, puma and lynx that have been released.”
“Many of the sightings reported to myself over the years do fit the description of a black leopard.
“The leopard is one of the most adaptable creatures, and its survival in many different environments is a testimony to this. If our big cats are surviving from one generation to the next then they have adapted to the countryside with great success, and this does appear to be the case.”
He says anyone who thinks they have witnessed a sighting should contact their local police.
Could big cats be on the prowl in the north west? What do you think? Let us know your views at derryjournal.com
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BIG CAT WHO FANCIED A HAM SANDWICH

2012-01-26T12:15:00.000Z

Sunday January 22,2012

By Jon Coates

The Express

FOR A hungry panther in search of a delicious snack, where better to go than the village of Ham.

Residents living in the rural community were shocked to see a large black cat prowling the area in recent weeks.

It has now been blamed for the disappearance of three rare breed piglets from a farm in Ham, which is appropriately near Sandwich in Kent.

The creature appears to have a discerning palate. The free range Berkshire piglets are renowned for their flavour. A stable girl, who does not want to be named, said she was tending horses when the animals started to go “berserk”.

She then spotted the panther with a swollen belly in a neighbouring field.

She said: “The body was 4ft long and the tail was just as long. It looked quite fat, with its belly almost touching the ground and it had really chunky legs.” Kent Police confirmed they were investigating a reported sighting of a large black cat in the area on January 5 at about 1pm. It is the latest in a string of sightings reported to police and panther experts over the past year of a large black cat prowling Sandwich and the surrounding area.

Neil Arnold, of Kent Big Cat Research, said: “I had reported sightings around this area a couple of weeks prior to these piglets going missing. A woman had seen a black panther-like cat crossing the same road next to this farm.

“Sightings have also been made of a large black animal in a nearby field.”

The organisation received 189 sightings of big cats last year, of which 57 per cent related to panthers, 28 per cent to pumas, 11 per cent to lynx and four per cent to jungle cats.

A 5ft long black cat was seen on the prowl in marshes near Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey, off the north Kent coast, last month. The area is popular with film crews – a new version of Dickens’ Great Expectations starring Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter was filmed in the area just weeks before the big cat sighting. A version of The Sweeney starring Ray Winstone and Hayley Atwell was also filmed there. In recent weeks a panther has been linked to two attacks on deer in the Cotswolds.

The secret world of big cats in Britain

2012-01-26T12:13:00.002Z

Bucks Free Pres

11:00am Saturday 21st January 2012 in

By Simon Farr »

THE carcass of a deer mauled on National Trust property in Gloucestershire sparked a media frenzy last week, as rumours spread of a big cat attack.
Experts carried out DNA tests on the body this week to finally try and prove if the deer was savaged by a big cat in Woodchester Park.
Thousands of big cat sightings are reported every year - with some right on our doorstep, with persistent rumours of the ‘Beast of Bucks’ stalking the Buckinghamshire countryside.
Expert Rick Minter is hoping the results of those DNA tests and his new book Big Cats, Facing Britain’s Wild Predators will turn around the sceptics.
He said: “It will be very interesting to see the results of the DNA test.
“My book explores all of the issues which surround Big Cats in the UK. It looks at all the evidence from sightings and also the human emotion, how people feel about the possibility of a big cat living in their area.
“And that aspect is surprising because most people are excited, of course some can be frightened if a sighting is particularly close to their home, but the consistent feeling is one of intrigue and that’s what the book looks at.”
The 50-year-old environment consultant’s interest in big cats stems from a sighting in Cumbria. He said: “It was a black panther, I didn’t really do much about it but I was asked to help out at a few workshops and went from there.
“I’ve also seen a cougar in Gloucestershire and then what we call a jungle cat with a group of other people. We had heard it during the night and then got a clear sighting of it.”
And what about the Beast of Bucks - is it real? Mr Minter said: “The people who monitor Bucks and Berkshire get reports of sightings quite regularly. And I’ve also heard of sightings in Marlow.”
Big Cats by Rick Minter is £18.99 and available from www.whittlespublishing.com.
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Beast of Bleadney 'puma' seen by rally driver

2012-01-26T12:09:00.000Z

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Wells Journal

Is the Beast of Bleadney back?
Last year there were numerous reported sightings of a big cat roaming the hills and levels around Bleadney and Henton, just outside Wells.
Now one of the clearest sightings yet has been made by a rally driving team on the levels between Bleadney and Godney.
Rally driver Colin Knott of Congresbury was taking part in a navigational exercise on Thursday night with his wife Jan as a co-driver.
As they drove down Leaze Drove on the way to Godney and rounded a bend they were stunned by the sight of a big cat 50 yards distant.
Colin said: "It looked to us like it was a puma.
"It was about the size of a labrador or an alsatian, sandy coloured and most definitely a cat.
"The way that it ran gave it away, using its tail to maintain its balance."
"We both saw it perfectly clearly in the headlights. It ran along the edge of the rhyne and then vanished into the ditch."
Colin and Jan's navigational skills allowed them to record the exact location of the sighting.
On Friday the Wells Journal visited the scene – and found what could be crucial evidence of the cat's existence.
A row of at least a dozen clear paw prints in the mud ran along the edge of the narrow country road.
Danny Bamping from the British Big Cats Society said that he could not say for certain that the images were those of a big cat's paw print, but he did not rule it out.
"There is a fifty-fifty chance that these are big cat prints," he said.
But he added they could also be from a dog – they have characteristics of both dog and cat prints, so they are hard to identify.
The large pad to the rear of the print indicates a cat's paw.
Dog paws feature an indentation which gives the print a U-shape.
But cats rarely run with their claws out, unless they are leaping – and this print clearly shows the presence of a single claw.
"Dog prints are often mistaken for cat prints," he said. "But I simply can't be sure with this one."
Mr Bamping said he would pass the picture on to fellow big cat experts for their opinion. Other reports of a big cat on the Somerset Levels have emerged over the past few weeks, with sightings at Meare and at Pilton – see page 16.
Have you seen evidence of a big cat around Wells? Did you walk a large dog along Leaze Drove at the end of last week? Call 01749 832335.

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Deer carcass sparks big cat inquiry

2012-01-26T12:08:00.000Z

Leighton Bzzard Observer
Published on Wednesday 11 January 2012 23:11

A big cat could be on the loose in Gloucestershire, experts fear.

Dog walkers stumbled across the mutilated carcass of a roe deer on National Trust land near Stroud last week.
The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity. Experts have taken DNA samples from the remains of the deer to see whether a big cat, such as a puma or panther, could have killed it.
Big cat expert Rick Minter, who has visited the site of the find at the trust's Woodchester Park, said: "It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass.
"Local people who watched the carcass being examined appreciated that this was being studied in a responsible manner and that they are to be kept closely informed about the matter through their local newsletter and a forthcoming meeting."

Mr Minter added: "Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close up encounters with such cats are rare. Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people.
"In the event of a close-up encounter, you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it. The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first."
David Armstrong, the National Trust's head ranger for Gloucestershire, said: "There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long. We'd be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester."
Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor at the school of life sciences at the University of Warwick, visited to take DNA samples. These are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.

For centuries there have been thousands of reported sightings of large felines on moorland and in woods and fields across the UK. The animals - normally black or brown - have been seen in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.

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How DNA will finally prove whether the 'Beast of Woodchester' IS a big cat

2012-01-26T12:06:00.000Z

Mail on Line By Chris Parsons
Last updated at 3:05 PM on 21st January 2012

Vital samples of DNA on the corpses of savaged animals could provide key clues in deciding whether or not a 'big cat' is behind the killings of two dear.
The 'beast of Woodchester' is feared to have struck twice after the mutilated bodies of two deer were found in the last two weeks in countryside near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
The second animal was found stripped down to its spine and without its vital organs, but experts believe they could find big cat DNA samples from the carcass as the corpse was still fresh when discovered.
The National Trust have commissioned the tests in a bid to discover whether a big cat really is at large.
David Bullock, the National Trust's head of nature conservation, contacted Robin Allaby, an evolutionary geneticist at Warwick University, who took 30 samples from the latest carcass, according to The Guardian.
Bullock told the paper he thinks it is 'perfectly possible' the tests will come back with a positive result for a big cat next week.
Bullock told The Guardian there will be health and safety issues if a big cat is found to be on the loose.
He said: 'We will have to assess access to our priorities. But we would be dealing with something so elusive we probably wouldn't want to take any action unless we were directed to do so by experts or the state.
'If it keeps out the way or just bumps off a few deer, I don't think anyone would be particularly worried
The savaged animal was found a few miles from where the big cat is first believed to have struck in Woodchester Park near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
It was found by a woman on Tuesday as she walked her dog between Whiteway and Rendcomb, near Cirencester – around 10 miles from the scene of the earlier attack.
She went home to get a camera - but by the time she returned the deer had been stripped down to its spine, and all its vital organs were missing – a similar state to the first carcass.
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, who was first on the scene of the first killing , said he believed the same animal is behind both attacks.
Mr Tunbridge,
‘But it has all the hallmarks of a big cat kill. The woman found it in a field but when she came back to take photographs, it was completely stripped out, with just its spine left.
‘I believe it could be the same cat that attacked in Woodchester because, in my experience, these animals usually have a territory of around 100 square miles.
‘Either that or it could be a relative or cub of this cat.’
The animal had been ripped open and was missing its heart, kidneys and liver, he said.
Its snout was also missing - important because big cats clamp their jaws over the mouth, causing death by suffocation.
Experts believe the deer was brought down and devoured by a large and powerful predator such as a puma, jaguar or leopard.
‘Hopefully the DNA test will prove what some of us have thought for years - that these creatures are roaming the countryside.’
Wilf Ashman, 72, said he had seen a big black cat nearby seven times in the past ten years, most recently in 2010.
Mr Ashman said: ‘It’s not a normal feral cat, this is different and bigger.’ A large, panther-like animal has been pictured in fields just over the county border in north-west Wiltshire.
Other recent sightings include a ‘pure white predator’ spotted in nearby Nailsworth, just weeks before the deer was killed.
Earlier this week a dog walker claimed to have seen a big cat in a field half a mile from where a deer had been found on January 4.
That animal was found by dog walkers with its abdomen torn open and major organs including the heart, kidneys and liver missing.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It was jet black and at least the size of a German Shepherd, very powerfully built and with large paws, a long tail and a smallish head.’
Mr Tunbridge added: ‘Big cats could be thriving at the moment because there are plenty of deer around and the winter weather creates more cover for them to hunt.

Wolds Panther spotted in road at North Somercotes

2012-01-26T12:03:00.000Z

The Louth Leader
Published on Thursday 19 January 2012 15:33
A driver saw the creature just after 5pm on Sunday. The motorist, who did not want to be named, said: “I came onto Jubilee Road at the top end, I rounded the corner and the road straightened out, seconds after I saw a large, what I can only describe as a black cat run across the road quite fast and very smoothly.
“I had another person in the car with me and I asked if they had seen it as well, and obviously they had. I know it wasn’t a dog because it had a long quite thick tail which stood up behind it shaped a bit like a cobra snake. I know it wasn’t a domestic cat because it was too big, about the size of a medium sized dog. The cat ran across the road very smoothly and gracefully with only a few strides.
“Living in the village it has made me quite wary of walking around in the dark because whatever it was I would not like to come face to face with it.”

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Who's the deer killer? National Trust says DNA trail may lead to wild cat

2012-01-26T12:02:00.000Z

After dozens of sightings, experts hope samples from corpse may finally uncover truth about Woodchester beast

Steven Morris

guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 14.25 GMT

The roe deer found on National Trust land in Gloucestershire. Its injuries are characteristic of a feline, rather than a canine, predator. Photograph: National Trust

Jerry Morgan jams his binoculars to his eyes and homes in on a fence line where a beech woods drops into the field. It turns out not to be the Woodchester wild cat but a big black crow, rifling through the leaf litter.
Morgan has travelled to Gloucestershire from west London in the hope of catching sight of a big cat – or cats – that might be prowling in this steep, wooded valley. "It's rather marvellous to think there might be something out there that we really don't know about or understand," he says.
Many more like Morgan could follow next week if the results of DNA tests commissioned by the National Trust, which owns Woodchester Park, prove a big cat is at large. "I want to believe, I think I do believe," says Morgan.
There have long been big cat sightings in the valleys and rugged commons around Stroud and Nailsworth. Between 2005 and 2011, Gloucestershire police logged some 75 reports (pdf). Walkers, motorists and homeowners reported seeing panthers, pumas, even on one occasion a lion near junction 9 of the M5.
Attitudes are mixed. Many people are convinced the sightings are genuine, and that the cats are the descendants of those released in the 1970s when ownership without a licence became illegal. Others think these may be rare native cats largely forgotten when most people moved into towns. There is even a school of thought that the sightings are real but they are not actually there: they are ghost cats.
Of course, there are also a huge number of sceptics who believe that the cats are seen by those who have had one too many pints at the Rose and Crown in nearby Nympsfield. The more charitable naysayers wonder if there is a primeval need for humans to imagine a beast if there isn't a convenient one to hand.
The still-warm remains of a deer found by a dog walker at Woodchester Park, a suitably atmospheric site comprising an overgrown 18th- and 19th-century landscape park and a never-finished Gothic manor house, could solve the mystery once and for all.
Those who examined the corpse say it bore the hallmarks of a cat killing. The snout had been "chomped off" – big cats sometimes try to suffocate prey by clamping their mouths around their targets. Tufts of hair were found nearby: big cats neatly pluck hair from the area they are about to bite into. In addition the stomach and intestines had been neatly removed and discarded. There was no evidence of the "raggedy" wounds characteristic of a dog attack.
Crucially, because the corpse was so fresh – and so had probably been ravaged only by the killer – the National Trust realised that it might be possible to find traces of cat DNA on the body.
David Bullock, the trust's head of nature conservation, called Robin Allaby, an evolutionary geneticist at Warwick University. The two had worked together before (on bat droppings) and Allaby dashed to the scene and took away 30 samples, which is he working on. Bullock believes it is "perfectly possible" that the tests will come back positive. "I am prepared to believe," he says.
If the tests prove a big cat is on the prowl, there will be health and safety issues to consider. "We will have to assess access to our properties and the risks associated with whatever it is. We will be guided by Defra to see what needs to be done. But we would be dealing with something so elusive we probably wouldn't want to take any action unless we were directed to do so by the experts or the state. If it keeps out the way and just bumps off a few deer, I don't think anyone would be particularly worried."
For the record, Defra, the government department responsible for rural affairs, officially does not accept that ABCs – alien big cats – do exist in Britain.
And if the tests come back negative? "Whatever the results, the process has been lovely, full of awe and wonder at the natural world and its mysteries," says Bullock. "It's brought to people's attention there is nature out there and nobody understands nature completely. Nature doesn't give up its secrets easily."
In the woods, the trust's head ranger for the Gloucestershire countryside, David Armstrong, turns out to be a believer. He admits he has seen a big cat – a lynx actually – not at Woodchester but eight miles away at Slad, Laurie Lee territory.
"I think it's important that people don't get frightened at the idea of a big cat. I've never heard of anybody being attacked by a cat. If anything, I think people around here who do believe are protective of the cats. They live side by side with them without any problem."
Since the trust announced that DNA tests were being carried out, Armstrong has had about 20 reports of sightings. A second deer corpse has been found on private land close to Woodchester and is also being tested by Allaby.
All this is great publicity for the trust. Its press office has been besieged by newspapers, magazines – including the Fortean Times – and even documentary-makers keen to attempt to track and trap the cat. The downside may be the focus on the negative. Most newspaper subeditors cannot resist getting the word "fear" into headlines.
Rhiannon Wigzell, a Woodchester councillor, does not sound very fearful. She thinks her herd of sheep would be able to cope with a big cat.
"They huddle together quite effectively. I think cats, if they do exist, go for deer, not people and livestock."
Up at Thistledown campsite, father and son Richard and Ryan Kelly are equally calm. Both believe they have seen big cats – though not on the campsite – and have heard "painful, strangled cat-like noises" that they cannot explain.
Long before the National Trust's announcement they had a sign on the site flagging up the possibility of a Woodchester big cat.
"We run bat and badger walks. Why not cat walks too?" says Richard. "Bring it on. I think it would attract more people rather than putting them off."
Jerry Morgan packs his binoculars away and walks back to his car. He did not really expect to see a cat. "I suppose I just wanted to savour the atmosphere. I knew there was just about no chance of a sighting. It feels like the sort of place, remote and untamed, where a wild cat could live. We'll have to wait and see, won't we?"

'Big cat' may have struck again as third deer found mauled to death

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000Z

The Mirror

By Richard Smith 20/01/2012

The Beast of Stroud may have struck for a third time after a mutilated roe deer was yesterday found 10 miles

Worker Mike Gorry, who spotted it on a building site while moving fencing, said: “It was big so something large must have killed it, although I’m no expert.”
Big cat hunter Frank Tunbridge, 65, believes the animal was mauled by the beast, thought to have killed two other deer in the past two weeks.
He said: “With these carcasses the prey’s nose was bitten off, which is something lions and other big cats do. There also seems to be a few quarries near where the latest one was found.
“Big cats love to hide in places like that. It could have hunted all night and then killed the animal, maybe going back for seconds afterwards.”
Experts believe a panther-like predator is behind the deaths in the Cotswolds. The first carcass was found in a National Trust park in Stroud, Glos, two weeks ago with a large paw print just 70 yards away.
A dog walker discovered the second body near Cirencester and the latest corpse was found at Cooper’s Edge, not far from Gloucester.
There have also been three separate sightings of a large creature in nearby South Woodchester and Nailsworth during the past eight days. Results from DNA swabs from each of the dead animals are due back next week.
For centuries there have been thousands of reported sightings of large felines on moorland and in woods and fields across the UK.
The animals - normally black or brown - have been seen in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland.

The Gloucestershire big cat spotted in Uley

2012-01-26T11:58:00.000Z

10:30am Friday 20th January 2012 in
By Liza-Jane Gillespie »
Gloucestershire Gazette

THE mystery of the Gloucestershire big cat deepens with more sightings being reported across the county including one near Uley.
Since the National Trust announced earlier this month that it had called in experts to run tests on a carcass of a roe deer found in the grounds of Woodchester Park, speculation has been rife in the county.
According to the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, which took samples from the animal’s wounds, it is now running tests on a second deer carcass found in the district but would not disclose where.
The results are not expected to be made public until the end of the month.
However, in the mean time Gazette readers have been contacting the newspaper with their stories of big cat experiences.
Catherine and Nicholas Toms, from Uley, believe they had a close encounter with the Gloucestershire big cat in February last year whilst walking their seven-year-old Springer, Flint, near to the Uley Bury.
Mrs Toms said: "My husband and I both saw it walking our Springer up there. It was about 25 yards a head of us just crossing the pathway.
"It was sideways on and it stopped, looked at us and just went into the under growth. It was as big as our Springer."
She added: "I was bit worried walking up there afterwards but didn’t see it again and haven’t seen it since."
However, Dursley town councillor Matt Nicholson, believes whatever is stalking the Gloucestershire countryside may not be a cat.
Mr Nicholson was walking his three-year-old Lab-Collie cross, Lucy, at Woodchester in December when he witnessed a deer being chased.
He told the Gazette: "Just before Christmas I was down there walking my dog and she started getting quite agitated.
"Then a deer came over a fence being pursued by something big and black but it wasn’t a cat it was a big dog of a grey hound variety. It wasn’t a cat it was too big and too thin."
Mr Nicholson does believe though that he has seen big cats in the area along the road between Wortley and Ozleworth and on the side of the road on Whiteways.

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Sighting of suspected big cat at Cirencester Roman Amphitheatre

2012-01-20T02:45:00.000Z

11:25am Thursday 19th January 2012 in

By Laura Shack »

Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard

Mary Holker and her dog at the Roman amphitheatre in Cirencester where she spotted a big cat

A PANTHER-LIKE creature spotted in Cirencester by a dog walker has added to fears that big cats are on the loose in the Cotswolds.
The sighting was made at the Roman amphitheatre on the outskirts of the town in the same week that the carcass of a roe deer was found savaged at Woodchester Park, near Stroud, in what experts believe was a big cat attack.
Mary Holker, of Oaklands in Cirencester, was walking her dog at around 8.30am last Friday (January 6) when she saw what she described as a big, black feline with a long tail race past her down the bank of the amphitheatre and into the grounds of Cirencester Hospital.
She said her Hungarian vizsla chased the creature but did not catch up with it.
She believed the animal was feline, but at around the size of a medium dog, Mrs Holker said it could not have been a domestic cat.
"I was rather taken aback when I saw it," she said. "I’m always sceptical when I hear about people seeing these things, but I really did."
Rick Minter, Gloucestershire author of Big Cats:Facing Britain’s Wild Predators, said there was evidence that there was more than one big cat in the Cotswolds and he was confident they were successfully breeding.
He said there had been several sightings in the Cirencester area before and the big cats were believed to be pumas or black leopard panthers.
A CCTV image was captured at Cirencester Hospital in 2005 which many believe was proof of a big, black cat living in the Cirencester area.
Now with the further discovery of the roe deer carcass at the National Trust’s Woodchester Park, big cat experts say the evidence is compelling that big cats exist in the Cotswolds.
The deer's injuries, and the way the carcass was consumed suggest it was the victim of a big cat attack.
Scientists from the University of Warwick have taken DNA samples from the deer carcass and are hopeful the results will back up the theory.
Mr Minter said: "It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass. If it is a positive result that will be a game changer, it really will. Although we are very positive we have feral big cats in this country, the DNA analysis will cement it more."
He added that the big cats were unlikely to attack walkers or dogs, but warned that if someone was to spot one, they should not aggravate it or attempt to corner it as it could react viciously.
Any sightings or possible evidence on National Trust land can also be reported by email to nature@nationaltrust.org.uk

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Couple watched as big cat prowled near Lechlade

2012-01-20T02:43:00.000Z

11:17am Thursday 19th January 2012 in

By Laura Shack »
Wilts & Gloucestersshire Standard

A FURTHER late night sighting of a big cat has been made near Lechlade this week.
Lynn Kyle, 48, and her husband Orr (CORR), 50, saw what they described as a big black cat when they were driving around a roundabout just outside of Lechlade from the Burford direction, at around 2am on Sunday morning, January 15.
They stopped the car to get a better look at the creature which was the size of a Border collie and was sniffing around a tree by the roadside.
Lynn, who works at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, said the first thing she noticed was the sleekness of the jet black cat along with its long body and small head, and she said it did not look like a domestic cat.
She added: "We were coming home from a party so it was quite a surprise to see it, but I wasn’t worried or afraid – I just thought it was very exciting."
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge said the description was typical of the sort of wild cat sightings that were frequently reported in the Cotswolds, and that it was likely to be a black leopard.
Mr Tunbridge, from Gloucester, said: "Black leopards are smaller than people often think – the larger the prey, the larger the animal and these big cats can survive quite well on smaller prey like voles and rabbits."
He added that there was no doubt that big cats were living in the Cotswolds and believed they could be breeding in deserted areas such as stone quarries in the area.

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Wolds Panther spotted in road at North Somercotes

2012-01-20T02:41:00.000Z

The Louth Leader
Published on Thursday 19 January 2012 15:33

THE MYSTERIOUS Wolds Panther has been seen again, this time at North Somercotes.

A driver saw the creature just after 5pm on Sunday. The motorist, who did not want to be named, said: “I came onto Jubilee Road at the top end, I rounded the corner and the road straightened out, seconds after I saw a large, what I can only describe as a black cat run across the road quite fast and very smoothly.
“I had another person in the car with me and I asked if they had seen it as well, and obviously they had. I know it wasn’t a dog because it had a long quite thick tail which stood up behind it shaped a bit like a cobra snake. I know it wasn’t a domestic cat because it was too big, about the size of a medium sized dog. The cat ran across the road very smoothly and gracefully with only a few strides.
“Living in the village it has made me quite wary of walking around in the dark because whatever it was I would not like to come face to face with it.”
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'I was watching a black leopard' — another big cat sighting in Fife

2012-01-20T02:40:00.000Z

A big cat said to roam the Fife countryside has been spotted again.
19th January 2011 The Courier

St Andrews man Iain Hunter saw what he believes to be a black leopard in north-east Fife on Saturday afternoon.
He has reported his sighting to Big Cats in Britain, which is appealing for other witnesses to come forward.
Mr Hunter was driving along a C-class road towards the A92 near Kilmany, around five miles north of Cupar, when he saw the animal emerge from undergrowth.
He said: ''I would be roughly 500 metres away from this animal. It was looking left and right as it ambled along. I then lost sight of it as it went out of view under the old railway bridge.''
Mr Hunter did not see it again after that, adding: ''I saw nothing else and did not have the nerve to wander into the field to look for any signs of prints.
''I am in no doubt as to what it was. I was watching a black leopard.''
The animal is described as being around a metre in height and in length, with a tail as long again.
Bob Wallace, central Scotland coordinator for Big Cats in Britain, said there had been a number of sightings in Fife over the years.
He said: ''Around 90% of sightings are misidentifications and when we investigate we find it's not a cat. It's maybe been a big dog.
''However, I'm quite convinced there are cats out there and I think the cat we're seeing all over Fife is the same one.''
Anyone who thinks they have spotted a big cat is asked to call Mr Wallace on 07936 719909 or email wallace_robert@yahoo.co.uk.

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Mystery of 'mountain lion' spotted in Hazel Grove garden

2012-01-20T02:38:00.000Z

Peter Devine

January 18, 2012

Stockport Express

‘BIG CAT’ SIGHTING: Peter Jackson spotted a ‘mountain lion’ type animal in his back garden. Police have now warned people not to approach the cat if they see it

Police have warned people not to approach a large cat spotted in a garden. The alarm was raised by semi-retired businessman Peter Jackson, 54, who was woken in the early hours of Monday by the barks of his labrador Tilly.
Mr Jackson saw what he described as a large ‘mountain lion’ type animal in his garden at Longnor Road, Hazel Grove.
Hair samples left at the scene have been taken away for analysis and police are investigating.
Experts believe the animal may have been a melanistic savannah – a medium-sized black cat, probably imported as a pet.
Mr Jackson said: "I am a light sleeper and when the dog started barking and the security light came on in the garden I dived out of bed and saw this large animal with a black silky coat with large bronze coloured eyes.
"The dog was barking at it from inside our conservatory, but it approached him from the outside with little or no fear, and let out a low growl.
"I started banging on the window and when it saw me it turned at speed and bounded away through a gap in the fence and out onto surrounding fields. It looked like some sort of puma to me because you could see the power in its shoulders"
Mr Jackson said he and wife Debra, 47, are used to seeing wildlife in their garden but he had never seen anything as big as this before.
He added: "I was in total shock, as it’s not the thing you expect to see in Hazel Grove.
"I discussed with my wife whether or not to report it for fear of being ridiculed.
"But we decided we simply could not live with ourselves if this animal was to attack a child.
"I would estimate the animal was four-and-a-half feet in length with a tail similar in size to its body and was about 3ft tall."
Mr Jackson reported the sighting to police.
A police spokesman said: "We had a report that a large ‘mountain lion type’ animal was seen at 3.40am on Monday morning.
"The Unknown Phenomena Investigation Association(UPIA) has been to Mr Jackson’s home and taken away samples of hair for analysis.
"We will be investigating it further, and reassuring residents. If anybody sees this animal they should not approach it but contact police."
Kirst D’Raven, of the UPIA, who carried out a three-hour forensic investigation on Monday, said: "I have little doubt that he saw what he believes to be a medium-sized cat – medium as opposed to a domestic sized or one of the larger species – possibly one of the domestic exotic hybrid breeds such as a melanistic savannah.
"We are liaising with GMP but we are taking this sighting very seriously.
"We took away samples of hair from the garden to try to identify what sort of cat it might be."
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Beast on the Prowl

2012-01-20T02:37:00.000Z

'It was 100 per cent definite I saw panther'

2012-01-20T02:36:00.000Z

Monday, January 16, 2012
The Tamworth Herald

YET another Herald reader has revealed that they have seen the 'big cat' said to be roaming the area – this time in Polesworth.
And another reader has sent in a photograph of what he believes may be a big cat paw print which he spotted in Hopwas Woods.

The woods near St Helena, Polesworth, scene of the latest “big cat” sighting”

Louise Beattie was with her son, walking their border terrier in Bluebell Woods in October when she saw the big cat, but was initially reluctant to come forward with the information as she didn't think people would believe her.

She told the Herald: "It was about 6.30pm and the weather was good, it was daylight.
"My dog stopped, stood very still and looked over towards some trees. We heard a loud rustle and I told my son it was probably birds in a tree. Then I saw a very thick long tail about 30 foot away and then saw a very, very large black cat walking stealthlike slowly past us.
"I told my son it wasn't a dog or cat and walked towards it. To my amazement, it was a black panther with a straight profile face.
"It walked past and with the silhouette from the sun against the fields, I was 100 per cent definite what I had seen.
"My husband came with me the next day and we found a large scratch on a tree and many scratches up the side of the tree – I assume where it grips on to climb.
"I did email a big cat website, but did not email theHerald as I thought people wouldn't believe me."
Meanwhile Chris Middlehurst, of Coton Green, contacted the Herald
to say: "My family and I were up walking at Hopwas near the mast, and came across these prints.
"We had been up there just before Christmas and seen some more like this.
"Don't know if its a big cat, but they seem a substantial size. We didn't see the animal!"
Last week's paw print has met with differing views however, with some people believing it to be the print of a large dog.
Pat and Chris Venables wrote: "We think that the photo of a paw print in last week's Herald is just a dog print and we have sent this picture as an example.
"It belongs to our dog Katy and she is only a Labrador with big feet!
"It was taken on Happisburgh beach and shows just how misleading footprints can be, it has not been altered in any way."
Have you seen the big cat? What do you think? email helen.machin@cintamworth.co.uk

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Big cat fears grow as second deer is found savaged

2012-01-20T02:34:00.000Z

By Richard Smith 17/01/2012

The Mirror

A killer big cat is believed to be on the rampage in the Cotswolds after a second deer was found mutilated.
The carcass was in a field 10 miles from where the first deer had been ripped apart a fortnight ago in Woodchester Park, near Stroud.
Experts fear the animals were brought down and devoured by a powerful predator such as a puma, jaguar or leopard.
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, said yesterday about the latest kill: “I believe it could be the same cat that attacked in Woodchester because these animals usually have a territory of 100 square miles.
"Big cats could be thriving because there are plenty of deer and winter weather creates cover for hunting.”
The second body was found by a woman walking her dog between Whiteway and Rendcomb, Glos. When she returned to take photos, the roe deer had been stripped out with just its spine left.
Experts say the first body had been ripped open and the heart, kidneys and liver were gone.
Dr Robin Allaby, of Warwick University, is studying DNA samples from this deer to see if it was killed by a panther-like cat.
He said: “I’m prepared to believe in the existence of big cats in the UK and we have a decent chance of finding out if it was there.”

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2012/01/17/big-cat-fears-as-second-deer-is-savaged-115875-23703383/#ixzz1jxheiPuB

TV star Rhys “Snake Man” Jones wants to solve mystery of big cats

2012-01-20T02:32:00.000Z

By Graham Henry

Jan 18 2012

Wales on Line

He has spent the last year getting snakes out of bathrooms, tracking cobras in Bridgend and seeking out the big cats that – apparently – call South Wales forests home.
Now Rhys “Snake Man” Jones’ efforts to unravel the mysteries of Wales’ most exotic encounters with animals are to return to our television screens – where the mystery of the big cats could finally be answered.
The Cardiff-born answer to Steve Irwin will return to BBC Wales in Rhys To The Rescue – with his first encounter being a four-foot corn snake nestling in and around someone’s toilet in Abertridwr, near Caerphilly.

“You couldn’t make it up,” Dr Jones, originally from Fairwater, told the Echo. “I got a call at 1.30am from Caerphilly council saying that a man was stuck on the toilet with a snake.
“I said, ‘Can I ask what he is doing stuck on the toilet with a snake?’ – all we knew was that his wife had seen the snake around the toilet. It was a crazy situation.
“I introduced myself as Dr Rhys Jones and said that I’d heard he had been having trouble with a snake in his bathroom – and he said, ‘oh are you Rhys To The Rescue?’ and said it was fine for us to come over.”
The night visit ended with a council worker peeling back a section of bath panel, revealing a 4ft – yet harmless – corn snake into the room, causing chaos in its wake.
That sets the scene for the second series of the show, which uncovers the bizarre to the adorable and the frightening.
Among the other animals rescued by Dr Jones in the series are three ducklings that slip through a drain in Cwmbran, a cobra that terrorises a family in Bridgend, a rescued chimpanzee and two tawny owl chicks seemingly left abandoned in a wood.
But Dr Jones – a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences – will tonight begin to morph from a man dedicated to unearthing snakes to stalker of elusive prowling beasts as he looks to solve the biggest mystery of all: Are there are big cats roaming the South Wales countryside?
“Probably not,” he said.
“But we seem to have a had a huge amount of sightings, so we have been tracking it for the last year and a half.
“It was just an idea I have had that we would do it properly, as scientists, and say, ‘OK, we will entertain this idea and go out and look to see what evidence we can collect to support it’.
“You cannot ever prove things will never be found, but we were looking for evidence to support that they are.
“That’s not to say that won’t change tonight.”
Dr Jones also revealed his near-sighting of a big cat while doing ecology research during work on the A470 – the supposed heartland of big cat territory in South Wales.
“I was doing ecology work around three or four years ago,” he said.
“And I was up in the middle of the night doing bat surveys, the time when you have to do it, and we heard a really strange, low, rasping growl and we had to investigate, as there have been a lot of sightings.
“But it turned out to be a rather irate deer.”
Rhys To The Rescue is shown on BBC One Wales tonight at 7.30pm.

BIG CAT FEAR AFTER DEER ARE SAVAGED

2012-01-20T02:31:00.000Z

Tuesday January 17,2012

By John Ingham Environment Editor

The Express

FEARS that a big cat is stalking the heart of England have been fuelled by the discovery of two mutilated deer carcasses.

The first, the body of a roe deer, was found on January 4 on National Trust land in the Cotswolds.

The second was found a few miles away by a woman walking her dog last week. She went home for her camera but by the time she got back the deer had been stripped completely.

In between, the disembowelled body of a sheep was found in nearby Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, where a large predator was spotted a few weeks ago. Experts say the killings bear all the hallmarks of a big-cat attack with pumas, black panthers or leopards the likeliest culprits.

And they warned that the cats could be breeding and feeding on the growing deer population.

After the first attack in the National Trust’s deer-rich Woodchester Park, Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, took DNA samples for tests to establish whether a big cat was involved.

The area between Whiteway and Rendcomb where a deer carcass was found

The second deer carcass was found about 10 miles away, between Whiteway and Rendcomb.

Big cats – normally black or brown – have been reported in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the north of Scotland.

Last month a Buckinghamshire livestock owner said one of her sheep had been attacked and killed by a big cat. The animals are thought to have escaped or been released from private collections – but many sightings turn out to be large pet cats.

Yesterday big-cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, said he believed the same animal was behind both deer attacks.

He had seen pictures of the second deer carcass and it was “hard to assess because there is not much left. But it has all the

“I believe it could be the same cat that attacked in Woodchester because these animals usually have a territory of around 100 square miles.

“Either that or it could be a relative or cub of this cat.

“Big cats could be thriving at the moment because there are plenty of deer around and the winter weather creates more cover for them to hunt.

“Hopefully, the DNA test will prove what some of us have thought for years – that these creatures are roaming the countryside.”

Dr Allaby 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 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.”

Big cat fears as remains of deer are found at National Trust property Woodchester Park near Stroud

2012-01-20T02:28:00.002Z

Gloucestershire News Gazette

11:13am Monday 16th January 2012 in

By Liza-Jane Gillespie »

TESTS are being carried out on the remains of a deer that was found at Woodchester Park amid fears it could have been killed by a big cat.
The carcass of the roe deer was found earlier this month by walkers in the grounds of the National Trust property near Stroud.
Photographs of the carcass have been sent to experts because of suspicions it had been killed by a large predator.
The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity.
Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, has visited the kill site to examine the evidence and take DNA samples from the wounds of the roe deer to be tested. These samples are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.
David Armstrong, National Trust head ranger for the Gloucestershire countryside, said: "The deer was found close to Woodchester Park in an area where there is nice beech woodland sloping down to pastures below.
"With only one footpath, although it is popular with dog walkers, there is plenty of space for wildlife to live relatively undisturbed. There are 120 hectares of woodland nearby at Woodchester and both areas provide a good habitat for large numbers of deer, both roe and muntjac.
"There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long. We’d be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester."
Any sightings or possible evidence of big cats on National Trust land can be reported by email to nature@nationaltrust.org.uk

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Has the wild cat of Woodchester struck again? After beast is sighted a second deer is savaged in the Cotswolds

2012-01-20T02:26:00.000Z

Expert says both maulings had hallmarks of a big cat attack Dog walker saw a beast 'the size of a German Shepherd'
By Charles Walford
Mail on Line
Last updated at 9:59 AM on 17th January 2012

The ‘wild cat of Woodchester' was feared to have struck again after the mutilated carcass of a second deer was found in a country field.
The savaged animal was found a few miles from where the big cat is first believed to have struck in Woodchester Park near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
It was found by a woman on Tuesday as she walked her dog between Whiteway and Rendcomb, near Cirencester – around 10 miles from the scene of the earlier attack.
She went home to get a camera - but by the time she returned the deer had been stripped down to its spine, and all its vital organs were missing – a similar state to the first carcass.

Is this it? This image of a large black animal was captured in a field in north-west Wiltshire and could be the beast that is stalking a Gloucestershire village

Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, who was first on the scene of the first killing , said he believed the same animal is behind both attacks.
Mr Tunbridge, 65, said: ‘I have seen pictures of this carcass and it is hard to asses because there is not much left.
‘But it has all the hallmarks of a big cat kill. The woman found it in a field but when she came back to take photographs, it was completely stripped out, with just its spine left.
‘I believe it could be the same cat that attacked in Woodchester because, in my experience, these animals usually have a territory of around 100 square miles.
‘Either that or it could be a relative or cub of this cat.’
The animal had been ripped open and was missing its heart, kidneys and liver, he said.
Its snout was also missing - important because big cats clamp their jaws over the mouth, causing death by suffocation.
Experts believe the deer was brought down and devoured by a large and powerful predator such as a puma, jaguar or leopard.

Carcass: A picture of the second deer's body is shown on the laptop of big cat investigator Frank Tunbridge. It was found by a female dogwalker

Tufts of the animal's fur were also found piled by the body - and such predators neatly pluck the hair from the body before shearing their teeth into the flesh.
Tuesday’s attack supports the theory of big cat hunters who are convinced a puma or panther is on the prowl.

Investigation: Frank Tunbridge is looking into both attacks, which he thinks were carried out by the same animal

Earlier this week a dog walker claimed to have seen a big cat in a field half a mile from where a deer had been found on January 4.
That animal was found by dog walkers with its abdomen torn open and major organs including the heart, kidneys and liver missing.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It was jet black and at least the size of a German Shepherd, very powerfully built and with large paws, a long tail and a smallish head.’
Mr Tunbridge, along with author Rick Minter and the National Trust, is awaiting DNA test results on the first savaging.
A positive test result could provide more evidence of big cats living in the British countryside.
Mr Minter, an expert on big cats in England who examined the carcass of the six-month-old roe deer, said it showed ‘hallmarks of a big cat attack’, adding: ‘The claw and teeth impressions are indicative of big cat activity.
‘And the stomach was taken out and discarded. Big cats are strict carnivores so they don’t want to eat the grass-filled intestines.’
Mr Tunbridge added: ‘Big cats could be thriving at the moment because there are plenty of deer around and the winter weather creates more cover for them to hunt.
‘Hopefully the DNA test will prove what some of us have thought for years - that these creatures are roaming the countryside.’
Wilf Ashman, 72, said he had seen a big black cat nearby seven times in the past ten years, most recently in 2010.
Mr Ashman said: ‘It’s not a normal feral cat, this is different and bigger.’ A large, panther-like animal has been pictured in fields just over the county border in north-west Wiltshire.

Examination: A man completes a DNA test on the carcass of the deer. Experts said that the attack had the hallmarks of a big cat due to claw and teeth impressions

Other recent sightings include a ‘pure white predator’ spotted in nearby Nailsworth, just weeks before the deer was killed.
Andy Todd, who said he saw the beast, added: ‘It was pure white. It almost looked like a polar bear.’
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 carcass.
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.
The DNA tests are expected to be completed later this month.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087346/Big-cat-Cotswolds-hunting-deer-Wild-beast-sighted-Woodchester-second-deer-savaged.html#ixzz1jxfSmv9f

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Cotswolds big cat speculation mounts as second dead deer found

2012-01-20T02:23:00.000Z

Roe deer carcass found a few miles east of animal discovered earlier on National Trust land, which is undergoing DNA tests
Steven Morris

guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 January 2012 11.54 GMT

Article history

Tests being carried out on the remains of a roe deer that experts fear could have been eaten by a big cat. Photograph: National Trust/PA

The remains of another deer have been found in an area of the Cotswolds where big cats may be on the prowl.
Later this week the National Trust is expected to reveal the results of DNA tests on a deer carcass found at its Woodchester Park estate near Stroud.
But it has emerged that a second roe deer's body has been found a few miles further east of Woodchester that experts believe could also be the victim of a big cat.
Big cat experts in Gloucestershire said on Monday they were not surprised at the second account. Frank Tunbridge, who has studied sightings and examined carcasses of many supposed big cat catches, said he would expect such reports, especially during the winter months when cats — if they do exist — are forced out into more exposed areas. "This is the sort of report we get almost every week but it's attracting attention because of the Woodchester find," he said.
The deer carcass at Woodchester was found in the first week of the new year. There have long been rumours of big cats in this part of Gloucestershire but experts such as Tunbridge were particularly excited because the remains were so fresh and so were unlikely to have been contaminated by animals other than the killer.
Scientists at Warwick University are carrying out DNA tests on the Woodchester remains to try to establish if the roe deer was brought down by a cat.
Tunbridge said the second suspected attack also happened in the first week of the year. A woman walking her dog came across the carcass.
"When she came back to take photographs, it was completely stripped out, with just its spine left," said Tunbridge. What the woman told him of how the carcass had looked — a big cat kill looks neater and more efficient than one carried out by a dog — led him to believe a feline predator had been responsible.
Tunbridge believes big cats live close to and in harmony with the human residents of Gloucestershire. "I hope the DNA tests will prove they are here and we can carry out more sensible studies of them. There is nothing for people to fear. I think the police and government know they are here but do not want to say so for fear of panicking people."

Mike Lockley: The truth behind big black cat sightings is revealed

2012-01-20T02:20:00.002Z

The Sunday Mercury
Jan 15 2012 by Paul Cole,

SO now we know. The big black cat spotted lurking in woodland only a stone’s throw from Chateau Lockley is, in all probability, a big cat called Whiskers.
To be fair, the moggie is a bloody big cat. I can see how it was mistaken for a panther.
I’m more baffled by claims by one un-named rambler in our weekly newspaper that the ‘beast’ pinned him by his chest to a tree. The animal purred throughout the three-minute ordeal, apparently.
Either he’s a dwarf, he’s lying, or the paper made him up. They’ve played fast and loose with the truth before.

I still cringe at the front page quote from fish and chip shop owner Kostas: “And when I looked up, I couldn’t believe the person I was handing a kebab to was Princes Diana, or her double.”
Mind you, that one may be true. Buckingham Palace refused to comment. Actually, they weren’t available to comment.
Actually, I know the reporter responsible. He couldn’t be bothered to ring them, but threw in the line ‘at the time of going to press, there was no one available to comment at…’
I remember thinking that was strange. Buckingham Palace is a big place. Someone must’ve been in.
When a local farmer confessed that his over-sized puss was probably the source of the big cat scare, I rang the newspaper editor and urged him to show diplomacy and not portray parishioners as idiots.
On Thursday almost the entire front page was swamped by the banner-headline: IDIOTS! Underneath, in smaller print, were the words ‘Dim villagers mistake moggie Whiskers for big cat’.
Dictionary
I complained that we are not idiots, but got very short shrift. The editor barked: “You’re right. The dictionary definition of someone who mistakes a two-foot pet cat for a seven foot panther is ‘d***head’, but it wouldn’t fit. Goodbye.”
That savage piece was the culmination of a media frenzy. A courting couple told of their brush with the beast in a lover’s lane.
“In the bushes we saw two eyes, like binoculars...”
That would be Colin, actually.
A safari park expert presented the rag with tips on how to react when faced with a ravenous, growling panther.
“Under no circumstances try to stroke it,” he warned. “Stay completely still, don’t move a muscle – and slowly remove your shoe…”
Even Harry Houdini couldn’t remove his own shoe without moving a muscle.
“Then fling the footwear in the animal’s direction.”
Sounds dodgy. If you miss, you’ve got to run for it wearing only one shoe.
“Remember,” assured the big cat boffin, “a panther is more scared of you than you are of it. If it strikes, it strikes out of fear.”
I’m not convinced. At the point of sinking its teeth into my jugular, I’m pretty sure I’d be just a little more frightened.
Anyway, Mrs Frobisher was so petrified when she ‘spotted’ The Beast in woodlands that she had an accident. Panthers have accidents in woodland on a regular basis, so they’re at best evenly matched in the ‘scared to death’ stakes.
The big cat sightings caused a stir while they lasted, and had a crippling effect on the local economy. The Victorian tearooms rely on passing trade from walkers. That dried up after the county council put up ‘Danger: Big Cat’ signs. They’re the same as ‘pensioners crossing’ signs, but behind the silhouettes of two stooped, elderly people is a big panther about to pounce.
Feelings ran so high that a meeting was called at the Assembly Rooms where our village bobby implored top brass to close the woods.
“Hold on a second,” urged the mayor. “We’ve got to think long and hard about the impact preventing ramblers from using the woods would have on tourism. Hell, the local pub and tearooms are struggling as it is.”
“Are you telling me,” hissed the PC, a look of disgust on his face, “that you’d risk human life for the sake of selling one pot of tea and a cream scone.”
“Some people buy a whole Victorian sponge,” shouted the tearoom proprietor.
At that moment, the heavy Assembly Room doors flung open and a gnarled, khaki-clad stranger strode to the podium.
“I’ll catch and kill your big cat,” he drawled, “but it will cost you £500.”
After much bartering, the hunter agreed to search for the animal that night. I was roped in to be by his side during the mission.
Above the hooting of owls in the pitch-black woodland could be heard the rustle of something very big approaching through the undergrowth. Close by there was a terrifying roar.
The hunter calmly removed a new pair of trainers from his rucksack.
“You’ll never be able to outrun a panther,” I whispered. “Very true,” he nodded. “But then, I only need to outrun you.”

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More 'big cat' sightings

2012-01-20T02:19:00.002Z

Saturday, January 14, 2012
This is Somerset

Another big cat has been allegedly spotted where a roe deer was found mutilated earlier this week.
Experts are evaluating DNA evidence taken from the deer, found savaged near the historic Woodchester Park in Stroud, Gloucestershire, leading to claims a panther-like animal is roaming the countryside.
Now, local 'big cat expert' Frank Tunbridge says said he received a call from a woman who saw a large black creature near the Ram Inn in South Woodchester.
He was told she had seen an animal resembling a large black cat on Thursday morning near allotments between the pub and the A46.
"She said she saw it while walking her two dogs," said Mr Tunbridge, who has been tracking big cats in the Cotswolds for decades. "The dogs showed lots of interest in it but didn't chase. Then it was gone."
He said she believed it could have been a black cat, and it was about the size of an Alsatian dog. "It's consistent with other sightings we have had in the area," said Mr Tunbridge, who inspected the remains of the roe deer savaged by what is believed to be a big cat near the National Trust's Woodchester Park last week.
Mr Tunbridge said big cats living in the wild in the UK tend to be black and said they could be leopards or cougars.
He also believes there are smaller lynx .
According to Mr Tunbridge, the deer bore many of the hallmarks of a big cat attack – its nose was bitten off, neck punctured, and its intestines were not touched.

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Fresh big cat sighting in Woodchester

2012-01-14T11:52:00.000Z

Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Citizen

A FRESH big cat sighting near Woodchester Park has raised expectations that a panther could be roaming the Stroud Valleys.
While experts evaluate DNA evidence taken from a deer savaged near the historic country park, a Gloucestershire big cat expert said there has been a sighting nearby.

Big cat expert Rick Minter

Frank Tunbridge said he received a call from a woman who saw a black panther-like creature near the Ram Inn, South Woodchester.
He was told she had seen an animal resembling a large black cat on Thursday morning near allotments between the pub and the A46.
"She said she saw it while walking her two dogs," said Mr Tunbridge, who has been tracking big cats in the Cotswolds for decades.
"The dogs showed lots of interest in it but didn't chase. Then it was gone."
He said she believed it could have been a black cat, and it was about the size of an Alsatian dog.
"It's consistent with other sightings we have had in the area," said Mr Tunbridge, who inspected the remains of the Roe deer savaged by what is believed to be a big cat near the National Trust's Woodchester Park last week.
Mr Tunbridge said big cats living in the wild in the UK tend to be black and said they could be leopards or cougars.
He also believes there are smaller lynx – which are brown or beige in colour.
According to Mr Tunbridge, the deer bore many of the hallmarks of a big cat attack – its nose was bitten off, neck punctured, and its intestines were not touched.
"Cats take organs like the heart, kidneys and liver because they can't digest what's in the stomach and intestines," he said.
Samples from the deer have been taken away by Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick.
The results are due by the end of the month.
A walker sent photographs of the carcass to experts last week after noticing particular features on the deer which could suggest it had been killed by a large predator.
David Armstrong, National Trust head ranger for Gloucestershire said it was found close to Woodchester Park next to a beech woodland sloping down to pasture below.
Rick Minter, who recently published Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators (Whittles, £18.99), said the DNA testing could be very valuable.
"If the test comes back with cat DNA, obviously that's a development," he said. "But even if it doesn't, it doesn't disprove that there are big cats out there in the British countryside.
"What's important to remember though is that they are very shy animals that tend to stay away from humans - they will know of our presence before we will."
His book, which he will be signing on January 26 at Waterstones in Eastgate Street, presents the issues big cats living wild in Britain and looks at how people respond to them.
The grisly discovery at Woodchester is not the first evidence of a big cat in the area. Nursing assistant Emily Shiers came face to face with one in a field near Callowell School, Stroud in October 2010.
The same month milkman Ian Coward saw two big black cats on his rounds in Kaskelot Way during the early hours.
And it may be that big cats have roamed Woodchester before – the Roman Woodchester Mosaic features a tiger, a leopard, and a lion – as as well as an elephant, a bear, a stag, a horse, and a wild boar.

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Big cat expert says nothing to fear after Woodchester deer death

2012-01-14T11:50:00.002Z

This is Gloucestershire 13th January 2011

BIG cat expert Rick Minter said people have nothing to fear, after the remains of a deer were found near Stroud.
Mr Minter, author of a new book on the mystery of the UK's feral big cats, said: "Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close-up encounters with such cats are rare. Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people.

DNA Testing Deer carcass

"In the event of a close-up encounter you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it. The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first."
DNA tests on the carcass of a roe deer found at the National Trust's Woodchester Park are being conducted amid speculation that it could have been brought down by a big cat.
The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity.
"It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass," said Mr Minter. "The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject."

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Get with the beasts: a big game hunter's guide to modern Britain

2012-01-14T11:49:00.000Z

The Independant
Tom Peck and Joshua Carroll
Reports of a big cat going wild near Stroud only scratch the surface. Tom Peck and Joshua Carroll investigate

1. Cougar
When PC Chris Swallow, a Ministry of Defence dog handler, filmed a sleek, black, metre-long cat in Argyll, Scotland, in 2009, he was convinced it was a black panther.

But locals insisted that it was the Coulport Cougar, which is said to have been spotted several times in the area since 2005.

Click here for the full graphic: A big game hunter's guide to modern Britain.

2. Lioness

In 2010, academic and former mountain ranger, Dr Bob Sharp, reported seeing a 5ft-long, beige-coloured creature prowling in the Kilsyth Hills in Stirlingshire. He concluded that the creature was a lioness. Experts said that this was “not impossible” as the hills are rich in prey, such as lamb and deer. There have been no further reported sightings.

3. Giant rats

In Bradford, West Yorkshire, 2½ ft-long rats have been spotted on the Ravenscliffe estate, even attracting hunters from outside the area. The Mammal Society claims they are in fact coypu - large South American rodents that may have escaped from a farm in East Anglia.

4. Siberian chipmunks

Firmly established in parts of the South and the Midlands. In Wolverhampton, a young mother was attacked by a pair of them in 2009. As well as inflicting a nasty bite, the creatures can carry the sometimes fatal Lyme disease, and other highly contagious viruses.

5. The Stroud deer-eater

Scientists are still analysing DNA samples to test claims that the creature that mutilated a deer at Woodchester Park, Stroud, this week, was a big cat such as a panther or a puma – which could be connected to an albino “big cat” seen in nearby Nailsworth a few days earlier.

6. Man-eating sharks

Repeated sightings of shark species off the Cornish coast, from a mako (Maori for “man-eater) in 2009 to a large oceanic white tip near St Ives in 2011 have been reported. A series of alleged sightings of a great white off Crackington Haven in 1999 remain unconfirmed.

7. The Beast of Bodmin

There have been many reports since 1983 of a black big cat that farmers on Bodmin Moor blame for slaughtering livestock. A 20-second video, released in 1998, may or may not have confirmed the existence of such a beast. But a 1995 Ministry of Agriculture report insisted that there was no evidence of big cats living in the area.

8. Wild boar

Extinct in the UK since the 17th century, boar returned to the British wild in the 1980s after a handful escaped from farms. The population could now be as high as 1,000, spread through seven English counties, notably Dorset. Hunters have been culling boars, which are considered pests, since 2007. Landowners are not obliged to record a kill.

9. Black panthers

Repeated searches by police marksmen have failed to locate the big, dark cat – assumed to be a melanistic jaguar or leopard (ie, a black panther) – reported in Sydenham, south-east London, in 2002 and 2005. But Tony Holder, who required hospital treatment after being mauled by the beast in his back garden, has no doubt that it was real. Since the life-expectancy of such a creature is about 12 years, it is probably still around.

10. Scorpions

Venomous yellow-tail scorpions – accidentally introduced from Italy – have lived in the walls of Sheerness Dock for hundreds of years. Recent warm summers have boosted their numbers to 13,000. Their sting, luckily, is not lethal.

New sighting of 'pure white, Alsatian-sized' cat in Nailsworth

2012-01-14T11:41:00.003Z

Stroud News & Journal

12:42pm Thursday 12th January 2012 in News

By Nick Wakefield »

A PURE white big cat the size of an Alsatian seen roaming across a Nailsworth street has further fuelled fears a large predatory feline is on the prowl in the Five Valleys.
The sighting was made in Chestnut Close just days before the half-eaten carcass of a roe deer was discovered in nearby Woodchester Park, prompting big cat experts to focus their attention on the area.
SNJ reader Juliette Myers has also revealed she found a ‘disembowelled sheep’ in a field between Uley and Nympsfield on Sunday, January 8, less than a week after dog walkers discovered the mutilated deer on National Trust land near Selsley Hill on January 4.
Results of DNA samples taken from horrific wounds on the deer are due by the end of the month but the way the animal was killed and devoured suggests either a panther or puma was to blame.
Chestnut Close resident Andy Todd this week revealed witnessing the beast outside his home around 5am on December 10.
He was about to leave for work when he glimpsed the brilliant white ‘cat’ sniffing at bushes before casually crossing the residential road and disappearing out of sight.
"It stood there for about a minute or two – I’d say it was larger than an Alsatian," said Mr Todd.
"It was pure white - that’s what shocked me. It almost looked like a small a polar bear."
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, who personally examined the deer carcass along fellow expert Rick Minter, called Mr Todd’s report ‘very unusual’ and said he had only heard of ‘one or two’ white big cat sightings in the UK in the past 20 years.
"It could be an albino, which would give any predatory animal a disadvantage," he said.
"Apart from its colour its description is identical to most other sightings – about Labrador size with a small head and long tail."
More than 2,500 big cat sightings are noted each year across the UK with Gloucestershire featuring among the highest number of reports behind Devon and Yorkshire.
Frank believes the creatures are breeding here and that the county’s numerous derelict Cotswold stone quarries are providing them an ideal habitat.
"The countryside and abundance of valleys are ideal for them because they like to be high and look down on their prey," he said.
Two other notable sightings reported in the district include a cat and two cubs emerging from woodland in Westrip last March and a more recent sighting of three big cats in a group spotted near Minchinhampton Common.

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.

New sighting of 'pure white, Alsatian-sized' cat in Nailsworth

2012-01-14T11:41:00.001Z

Stroud News & Journal

12:42pm Thursday 12th January 2012 in News

By Nick Wakefield »

Could this be the wild cat of Woodchester? Beast hunted after deer is devoured in Cotswolds

2012-01-14T11:38:00.000Z

Expert says attack had hallmarks of a big cat attack
Dog walker claims beast is size of a German Shephe

By David Wilkes
Last updated at 10:22 PM on 12th January 2012

Nestled in the picture perfect Cotswolds, the parish of Woodchester is hardly the exotic location you might associate with such a beast.
But, following the slaughter of a deer in the area and several apparent sightings, rumours are abounding that a big cat is stalking the fields and woods around the Gloucestershire village.
Rick Minter, an expert on big cats in England, examined the carcass of the six-month-old roe deer in nearby Woodchester Park, yesterday. He said it showed ‘hallmarks of a big cat attack’, adding: ‘The claw and teeth impressions are indicative of big cat activity.

Is this it? This image of a large black animal was captured in a field in north-west Wiltshire and could be the beast that is stalking a Gloucestershire village

Examination: A man completes a DNA test on the carcass of the deer. Experts said that the attack had the hallmarks of a big cat due to claw and teeth impressions

‘And the stomach was taken out and discarded. Big cats are strict carnivores so they don’t want to eat the grass-filled intestines.’
The National Trust, which owns the land, is taking the theory so seriously it has ordered DNA tests on the deer’s remains to establish what killed it. Mr Minter said the team was also investigating paw prints near the carcass. He said: ‘There’s a saying with paw prints that “if it’s round it isn’t a hound” and these are quite round.’
Suspicion was raised further yesterday after a dog walker claimed to have seen a big cat in a field half a mile from where the deer was found on January 4.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘It was jet black and at least the size of a German Shepherd, very powerfully built and with large paws, a long tail and a smallish head.’
She is not the first to claim to have seen the ‘wild cat of Woodchester’ near the village, better known for being home to the largest Roman mosaic in Northern Europe.
Wilf Ashman, 72, said he had seen a big black cat nearby seven times in the past ten years, most recently in 2010. Mr Ashman said: ‘It’s not a normal feral cat, this is different and bigger.’ A large, panther-like animal has been pictured in fields just over the county border in north-west Wiltshire.
Other recent sightings include a ‘pure white predator’ spotted in nearby Nailsworth, just weeks before the deer was killed.
Andy Todd, who said he saw the beast, added: ‘It was pure white. It almost looked like a polar bear.’
The DNA tests are expected to be completed later this month.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085919/Could-wild-cat-Woodchester-Beast-hunted-deer-devoured-Cotswolds.html#ixzz1jQpKfp1o

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Isaac the cheetah seized at airport

2012-01-14T11:33:00.000Z

Updated: 12 January 2012 10:56 | By pa.press.net

They may be the fastest animal on land, but one cheetah was stopped in his tracks when he came across border officials at Europe's busiest airport.
Isaac the cheetah was seized by officials when they spotted his identity marker, used to tackle the trade in illegal animals and stop smugglers cheating the system, was missing.
The endangered African cheetah was stopped at London's Heathrow airport as he was being taken to Russia from a safari park in South Africa, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) said.

UK Border Agency/PA

Isaac the cheetah was seized by officials at Heathrow Airport (UK Border Agency/PA)

Mystery on Colonsay as dead fox found on island

2012-01-14T11:31:00.000Z

Published on Thursday 12 January 2012 09:25

A DEAD fox in the middle of the road is a common sight to many people.
But the discovery of one on a remote Scottish island has caused a stir.

The island of Colonsay has, until now, been fox-free and is officially recorded as such in documents dating back to 1892.
Now the 100 residents of the Hebridean island are trying to find out how the predator got there.
The lone fox was found at Scalasaig by islanders Ross Moodie and Chris Baker as they checked the island’s fire station for storm damage last month.
Mr Moodie said: “We drove up the road to the fire station at about 9pm and there was nothing on the road, but when we came back down – only five or ten minutes later – there was this thing lying in the middle of the road.
“At first we thought it was a cat, or a rabbit, but then we thought, no, it’s too big, and thought it was a dog – then we saw that it was a fox.”
The animal had a large gash behind its left ear and Mr Moodie believes that it had bled to death.
How the animal reached Colonsay remains a mystery.
Mr Moodie said: “Somebody had a theory that it came on a rib [rigid inflatable boat] carrying Hydro Board workers, but I am of the opinion that it came across in a bin lorry from Oban.”
Netta Titterton, who has lived on Colonsay all her life near the pier at Scalasaig, said: “The fox ended up right outside my house. It’s very strange, we have never had foxes here on Colonsay.
“It certainly wasn’t washed up, because the tide doesn’t reach that high, and Islay is the nearest place and it’s 15 miles away – so I don’t think it swam here.”
An 1892 book on Colonsay by the author Loder states that foxes had never been recorded on the island.
Mike Peacock, RSPB officer for Colonsay and Oronsay, said: “There are no foxes on Colonsay, Islay or Jura. The bin lorry is a possibility, but I think somebody has brought a dead fox here and dumped it as a practical joke, although I have no evidence to support that.”
Islander Kevin Byrne said: “No-one knows if it was a joker, but surely if it was they would have started joking about it by now?
“Maybe it got stuck in the wheels of a plane at Oban, before the plane flew into Colonsay. My feeling is that it was in the Argyll and Bute Council bin wagon when it came in on the ferry from Oban and was maybe injured.”
While the residents remain outfoxed by the mystery, they remain sure about one thing. Mr Byrne said: “We don’t want foxes on Colonsay. They would destroy the island’s ground- nesting birds.”
Meanwhile, a grey triggerfish normally found basking in the warm waters on the Mediterranean has been discovered washed up on a Hebridean beach.
RSPB volunteer worker Izzy Baker made the discovery when she was out walking on the island of Oronsay. She said: “I took the dogs out for a walk and just stumbled upon the fish, which is about 30cm long.”
“There have been a few found around the UK but it’s not usual for it to be in the Hebrides at this time of year.”

Is this the work of the beast of Stroud? Mutilated carcass of deer on National Trust land is work of big cat, experts fear

2012-01-14T11:29:00.000Z

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:21 PM on 11th January 2012

Experts fear a big cat could be on the loose in Gloucestershire after dog walkers stumbled across the mutilated carcass of a roe deer on National Trust land last week.
The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass, which was found at Woodchester Park near Stroud, had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity.
Experts have taken DNA samples from the remains of the deer to see whether a big cat, such as a puma or panther, could have killed it.

CSI Woodchester: Forensics experts investigate the area near Stroud in Gloucestershire where the carcass of a deer was discovered by dog walkers

Hunting ground? Where the deer remains were found in Woodchester Park near Stroud

Big cat expert Rick Minter, who has visited the site of the find at the park, said: 'It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass.
'The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject.
'Studying likely evidence such as this will help us become more informed.
'Local people who watched the carcass being examined appreciated that this was being studied in a responsible manner and that they are to be kept closely informed about the matter through their local newsletter and a forthcoming meeting.'

Common sight: A big cat was pictured prowling close to a naval base in Faslane, Scotland in 2009 - cats like this have been spotted across the nation for many, many years

He added: 'Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close up encounters with such cats are rare.

Evidence: A large cat skull, found in the River Fowey, on the edge of Bodmin Moor in 2005

'Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people.
'In the event of a close-up encounter, you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it.
'The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first.'
Dr Robin Allaby, Associate Professor at the school of life sciences at the University of Warwick, visited to take DNA samples.
These are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.
David Armstrong, the National Trust’s head ranger for Gloucestershire, said: 'There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long.
'We’d be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester.'
For centuries there have been thousands of reported sightings of large felines on moorland and in woods and fields across the UK.
The animals - normally black or brown - have been seen in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland.
One of the more famous big cats is the Beast of Bodmin Moor - over 60 sightings of a large black cat have occured in the area over the years.
In 2005 a skull with large fangs and thought to be the remains of a big cat were found in the River Fowey close to the moor.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085296/Mutilated-carcass-deer-National-Trust-land-work-big-cat-experts-fear.html#ixzz1jQn8e6EZ

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Will DNA tests solve the mystery of Gloucestershire big cat sightings?

2012-01-14T11:27:00.000Z

The Independant
Charlie Cooper

It began with dark mutterings in the local pub, that a strange beast might be stalking the woods around the little village of Woodchester, savaging the local wildlife and frightening local dog walkers.

Now, even the National Trust is suspicious and experts are carrying out DNA tests on the carcasses of two roe deer found mutilated in the Gloucestershire countryside.
A local walker discovered the second carcass in the National Trust’s Woodchester Park, near Stroud, on Wednesday last week. Experts from the University of Warwick were called in on Friday to take DNA samples from the two carcasses, the first of which was found near the village of Dursley.
Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor of life sciences at the University of Warwick said he was “prepared to believe” that the creature that killed the deer was a big cat. DNA test results will be available by next week, he added.
Experts said that injuries to the neck, the plucking of fur and the removal of the stomach and the intestines from the carcass were all hallmarks of a big cat kill.
Stories of big cats stalking the British countryside – usually accompanied by grisly deer or sheep carcasses – are not uncommon, but this is the first time that the National Trust has become involved in an inquiry and the first time that DNA technology has been used to verify suspicions
A National Trust spokesman said: “This is a first for us – it’s quite exciting, an opportunity to solve a wildlife mystery through science.”
The man who discovered the second carcass, who asked not to be named, said: “I found it on Wednesday last week at about 9 o’clock in the morning. I was out for my daily walk. I found it in a coombe – I was on one side and could see a body of some description. I realised from afar that it was a deer and there was a lot of redness showing. So I walked over to it and as soon as I came close I realised what it was. It was very evident that it had been eaten by something – something rather large.”
Frank Tunbridge, 65, a local man who has been recording big cat sightings and suspicious kills for 25 years, said: “We’ve come across loads of similar kills – but this is much more exciting. Because we’re on National Trust land we’ve had a lot of interest and we’ll be getting DNA evidence – the best you can get. Nothing else in this country, other than a big cat, could do this to a carcass.”
“I’ve lived here for 20-odd years, and there’s always been a rumour,” said Ben Powell, manager of the Old Fleece pub in Woodchester. “But nothing’s ever been proved. It’s not often talked about – but you do hear the odd rumour”
Mr Tunbridge, who said there had been reports of big cats in the area for more than a decade, has set up camera trap devices around the site of the latest kill, hoping to photograph the culprit. The creature, whatever it might be, remains elusive.

DNA from deer carcass may solve big cat mystery in Gloucestershire

2012-01-14T11:23:00.002Z

By Mirror.co.uk 11/01/2012 A big cat could be on the loose in Gloucestershire, experts fear.

Advertisement >>

Dog walkers stumbled across the mutilated carcass of a roe deer on National Trust land near Stroud last week.
The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity.
Experts have taken DNA samples from the remains of the deer to see whether a big cat, such as a puma or panther, could have killed it.
Big cat expert Rick Minter, who has visited the site of the find at the Trust's Woodchester Park, said: "It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass.
"The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject.
"Studying likely evidence such as this will help us become more informed.
"Local people who watched the carcass being examined appreciated that this was being studied in a responsible manner and that they are to be kept closely informed about the matter through their local newsletter and a forthcoming meeting."

Experts are trying to find out whether a big cat, such as a panther or puma, is on the loose

Mr Minter added: "Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close up encounters with such cats are rare.
"Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people.
"In the event of a close-up encounter, you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it.
"The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first."
David Armstrong, the National Trust's head ranger for Gloucestershire, said: "There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long.
"We'd be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester."
Dr Robin Allaby, Associate Professor at the school of life sciences at the University of Warwick, visited to take DNA samples.
These are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.
For centuries there have been thousands of reported sightings of large felines on moorland and in woods and fields across the UK.
The animals - normally black or brown - have been seen in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2012/01/11/dna-from-deer-carcass-may-solve-big-cat-mystery-in-gloucestershire-115875-23694767/#ixzz1jQltB8zb

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Mutilated Deer Carcass Indicates Big Cat On Prowl In Gloucestershire, Experts Fear

2012-01-14T11:19:00.000Z

The Huffington Post
First Posted: 11/1/12 15:11

A big cat could be on the loose in Gloucestershire, experts fear.
Experts have taken DNA samples from the remains of the deer found on National Trust land near Stroud to see whether a big cat, such as a puma or panther, could have killed it.
Dog walkers stumbled across the mutilated carcass last week.
The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity.
Big cat expert Rick Minter, who has visited the site of the find at the Trust's Woodchester Park, said: "It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass.
"The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject.
"Studying likely evidence such as this will help us become more informed.

Above: Picture from PA
"Local people who watched the carcass being examined appreciated that this was being studied in a responsible manner and that they are to be kept closely informed about the matter through their local newsletter and a forthcoming meeting."
Minter added: "Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close up encounters with such cats are rare.
"Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people.
"In the event of a close-up encounter, you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it.
"The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first."
David Armstrong, the National Trust's head ranger for Gloucestershire, said: "There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long.
"We'd be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester."
Dr Robin Allaby, Associate Professor at the school of life sciences at the University of Warwick, visited to take DNA samples.
These are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.
For centuries there have been thousands of reported sightings of large felines on moorland and in woods and fields across the UK.
The animals - normally black or brown - have been seen in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland.

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DNA tests to solve mystery of big cat sightings in Britain

2012-01-14T11:17:00.002Z

The Telegraph
The National Trust has ordered DNA tests on a deer mauled by a savage predator to finally prove whether big cats prowl the British countryside.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent

3:34PM GMT 11 Jan 2012

Mark Fraser, founder of Big Cats in Britain, said wildcats are 'definitely out there' with up to 1,000 sightings a year

There have been thousands of reports of big cats across the UK but most are a fleeting glimpse caught by a member of the public.

The most definitive evidence that has been gathered so far are images on mobile phone cameras or blurry video.

Now experts are carrying out DNA tests on the carcass of a roe deer found at the National Trust’s Woodchester Park, near Stroud, amid speculation that it could have been brought down by a big cat after reports of large felines in the area.

A local walker sent photographs of the carcass to experts last week after noticing particular features on the deer which could suggest it had been killed by a large predator.

The injuries to the neck of the deer and the way the carcass had been consumed are thought to be highly indicative of big cat activity.

Dr Robin Allaby, Associate Professor at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick has visited the kill site to examine the evidence and take DNA samples from the wounds of the roe deer to be tested. Theses samples are now being tested with the results due by the end of the month.
Rick Minter, author of a new book on the mystery of the UK’s feral big cats, said the results could solve the mystery of big cats in Britain once and for all.
“It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass. The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject.
Previous evidence of ‘big cats’ in Britain include thermal images taken by the Forestry Commission in 2009 of two animals in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
QUIZ: How well do you know your wild cats?
A series of photos taken in Cornwall purport to show the ‘Beast of Bodmin Moor’, that is also blamed for mauled sheep in the area.
A film of what looks like a big cat was taken by a military policeman on his mobile phone in 2009 after spotting the creature in Dunbartonshire near the home of Britain’s Trident nuclear submarines.
Other sightings are mostly anecdotal or seen after attacks on domestic animals.
Mark Fraser, founder of Big Cats in Britain, said officials are afraid of admitting big cats are roaming the country for fear of farmers claiming compensation for livestock that is taken.
He said wildcats are “definitely out there” with up to 1,000 sightings a year. Most sightings are attributed to panthers, with a handful of reports put down to their smaller cousins the lynx, once native in this country, or leopards.
It is thought the cats were released into the wild in the 1970s following a crackdown in the law in keeping wild animals.
David Armstrong, National Trust Head Ranger for the Gloucestershire Countryside, said the Trust were taking a scientific view.
"With only one footpath, although it is popular with dog walkers, there is plenty of space for wildlife to live relatively undisturbed. There are 120 hectares of woodland nearby at Woodchester and both areas provide a good habitat for large numbers of deer, both roe and muntjac.
“There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long. We’d be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester.”
Officially Natural England claim that there are no big cats in Britain
But Mr Minter said you can never be too careful.
“Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close up encounters with such cats are rare. Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people. In the event of a close-up encounter you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it. The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first.”
Have you seen a big cat recently?

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Big cat may prowl Gloucestershire wood, says National Trust

2012-01-14T11:15:00.000Z

Evidence of big cats at large grows as charity investigates killing of roe deer at Woodchester Park near Stroud

Steven Morris

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 January 2012 13.35 GMT

The Guardian

Woodchester Park, where the dead roe deer was found. Photograph: National Trust

A big cat – or cats – could be prowling around a beautiful wooded valley in Gloucestershire run by the National Trust, the charity has revealed.
Experts are carrying out DNA tests on the remains of a roe deer found at the trust's Woodchester Park, near Stroud.
A walker came upon the carcass and thought injuries to the deer's neck and the way the body had been consumed suggested it had been killed by a big predator.
There have long been whispers of big cats at large in Gloucestershire, but the fact the National Trust is taking this discovery seriously adds to the credibility of the stories.
David Armstrong, the National Trust head ranger for the Gloucestershire countryside, said: "The deer was found close to Woodchester Park in an area where there is nice beech woodland sloping down to pastures below.
"With only one footpath, although it is popular with dog walkers, there is plenty of space for wildlife to live relatively undisturbed. There are 120 hectares of woodland nearby at Woodchester and both areas provide a good habitat for large numbers of deer, both roe and muntjac.
"There are some very occasional sightings of big cats in the Cotswolds but they have wide territories, so are rarely present in one particular spot for long. We'd be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester."
Robin Allaby, associate professor at the school of life sciences at the University of Warwick, has visited the kill site to examine the evidence and take DNA samples from the wounds of the deer. The results of his tests are expected at the end of January.
Rick Minter, author of a book on the mystery of the UK's big cats, called Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, said: "It is very helpful to have this forensic study of the deer carcass. The consistent feedback I receive from people about possible big cats is that the animals should be studied, so we can learn about the subject.
"Studying likely evidence such as this will help us become more informed. Local people who watched the carcass being examined appreciated that this was being studied in a responsible manner and that they are to be kept closely informed about the matter through their local newsletter and a forthcoming meeting.
"Although people occasionally report a possible big cat from a distance, close-up encounters with such cats are rare. Their hearing and movement are exceptional, which helps them avoid close contact with people. In the event of a close-up encounter you should stay calm and face towards the animal as you back off, but not threaten or aggravate it. The chances are it will have backed off very quickly first."
The trust says the main candidates for the larger types of big cats being reported in Britain are puma-type cats and panthers.
Woodchester Park is a tranquil wooded valley containing remains of an 18th- and 19th-century landscape park with a chain of five lakes.
Any sightings or possible evidence on National Trust land can be reported by email to nature@nationaltrust.org.uk.

The black beast is back!

2012-01-10T06:05:00.000Z

The black beast is back!

Sighting...Lora Cannon whose daughter Sarah Burdett (15) saw the black cat from her bedroom window walking in the fields at Foxton. (Picture: Andrew Carpenter/001392-76)

Published on Monday 9 January 2012 08:48

A LARGE black panther-like creature was spotted running across a field at Foxton in the latest sighting of the infamous ‘black beast’.

Schoolgirl Sarah Burdett had a shock when she saw the beast from her bedroom as it moved from the cover of a hedge off North Lane in the village.
She rushed to the field with her dad’s partner Lora Cannon, but the large cat was no longer anywhere to be seen.
However the pair found what they believed were its prints and droppings, which they photographed as evidence.
The incident is the latest in a series of sightings of ‘black beasts’ stalking the Harborough countryside which go back as far as the 1990s.

Sarah is from Worcestershire but was staying with her father Andrew and Lora at their home in Main Street, Foxton, over the Christmas period. She made the sighting on New Year’s Day.
Sarah told the Mail: “It was about 8.30am. I was looking out my window and a few fields back I saw what I thought was a labrador running across the field. But then I noticed its ears were pointed upwards and its tail was curled. It was massive compared to a labrador. It was much longer and it was running fast.
“We went to the field to see if we could see anything. We had a walk around and found tracks and faeces.”
Researching on the internet later, Sarah said she was confident she had seen a black jaguar or leopard.

She reported her sighting to the Big Cats in Britain group, of which Nigel Spencer, of Oakham, is the representative for the Harborough area.
Mr Spencer
said there had been a number of sightings of a large cat in the Foxton area since the 1990s.
He added: “Reports all around Foxton and the canal have been common since we first started investigations in the 90s, but whether this is the same animal or offspring I wouldn’t like to say. Fifteen years is the normal lifespan in captivity.”
There have been several black cat sightings reported in the Mail since 1996.
These include sightings at Arthingworth, Maidwell, Kibworth, East Farndon and in Harborough.
The most recent was near Harborough Golf Club in January 2010, when a family saw a creature run out in front of their car on the A508 Northampton Road.
Sightings across the country are usually put down to pet leopard, puma or panthers which have been brought into the country illegally before being released by their owners.
Lora said: “We’ve only been here since May and this is the first I’ve ever heard about something like this. We weren’t going to bother reporting it until we found the tracks. I certainly won’t be going out without my camera again.”

Windermere pensioner spots 'big cat' in his garden

2012-01-10T06:03:00.000Z

Windermere pensioner spots 'big cat' in his garden

6:10pm Tuesday 3rd January 2012 in News

Windermere pensioner spots 'big cat' in his garden
ANOTHER ‘big cat’ sighting in the Lake District has re-opened the debate about what the mysterious animal may be.
For years, Westmorland Gazette readers have reported seeing large cats at various places across Cumbria and Lancashire.
Startled Windermere pensioner Brian Jowett claims he saw the curious creature in the early hours the week before Christmas.
Awoken during the night, Mr Jowett noticed security lights come on at his home at Rowanrigg, on Lake Road.
He looked out and saw an animal measuring around two feet long with a bushy tail, which he first believed was a fox.
But on closer inspection, the 82-year-old realised he was looking at something he had never seen before.
“It was a very large cat, very much like a striped tabby cat with very pronounced rings around its bushy tail, and pointed ears,” said Mr Jowett.
“I watched it for about four or five minutes, it looked at me, panicked and went off.”
Mr Jowett said he was surprised by his encounter with the fawn-coloured creature as wildcats in the UK are usually found north of the border.
“From information on the Internet, it would appear to be a wildcat but they are not supposed to be anywhere other then remote parts of Scotland,” he added.
“I was very surprised. It was strange - we have chickens, which I checked the following day but they hadn’t been disturbed.”
David Harpley, senior conservation officer at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said the animal might have been a large domestic cat.
He also suggested it could be an otter, which people do not often see on dry land.
“There are a number of theories about what these things are - one is that they are big cats living free, but it seems a bit unlikely,” said Mr Harpley.
“The other is that people are probably not used to seeing male otters, particularly male otters, on dry land.
“Otters move across dry land in order to get from one water course to another. It’s a big animal and people might confuse these, potentially, with big cats.”
Mr Harpley added that a large puma-type cat would measure about four or five feet long.
“I would guess this was a large domestic cat,” he said.

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2012-01-10T06:01:00.002Z

On the prowl

Published on Saturday 7 January 2012 10:00

THE BELPER area is a hotbed for sightings of mysterious black panther-like creatures, it has been revealed.

We have discovered that during the last five years there have been a number of calls from the public reporting seeing a large black cat-like creature in the area.
We unearthed the details after making a Freedom of Information Request to Derbyshire police, which revealed the strange calls to police spanning a five-year period.
The findings show that countryside and villages around Belper are veritable big cat hotspots.
One caller even contacted the force to report spotting a UFO flying over the town.
In June, 2006, in Hilcote there were two separate reports of sightings of a large black panther-like creature walking across fields.
In May, 2010, a frightened motorist dialled 999 saying they had seen a large black panther-like creature which trotted in front of their car before disappearing in Nether Heage.
And in May of this year an aghast caller from Crich stated that they and their neighbour had seen a large panther or lynx in their garden and a nearby field.
But perhaps the most perturbing was a Whatstandwell resident’s sighting in 2009.
A shocked villager woke up to see a ‘panther-like’ creature on their own patio before it ran off.
In January of 2011, the News reported how Belper man Neil Green spotted what looked to be the remnants of a big cat attack on Wyver Lane in the town.
This week the Belper Lane resident said since his appearance on page one of the News several people have contacted him to tell him they have witnessed similar sightings.
He said: “People around that time say that they had seen certain things.
“Some people told me they had seen the cat itself. They described it as a big black cat.”
Neil, 35, continued: “From the amount of people that have contacted me, I wouldn’t dispute their existence straight away.
“A lot of people kept big cats in the ‘60s and ‘70s as pets, some of them could have made it into the wild, who knows.”

l Turn to page five to read more – and to find out about ‘paranormal goings-on’ in and around Belper.

Does Belper have its own ‘Beast of Bodmin’?

2012-01-10T06:00:00.002Z

NBENLM101230C1 - Neil Green and dog Toby on wyver lane where they found a dead sheep

Published on Saturday 7 January 2012 16:00

THE LID has been lifted on the Belper area’s own X-Files-style strange happenings after an investigation by the News.

Derbyshire Police has this week revealed the details of four separate 999 calls it has received in the past five years - where scared villagers had spotted panther-like creatures.
Founder of the Big Cat Society, which looks into the existence of the creatures in the British Isles, Danny Bamping, said Derbyshire and Amber Valley were a definite hotspot for sightings.
He said: “I have investigated quite a few in Derbyshire over the years, it is a bit of a hotspot. It is because there is a lot of cover there, a lot of forests and rivers – a lot of areas for these animals to thrive in really.”
Mr Bamping said there could be more than 16 species of big cat living in Britain.
He said the bodies of pumas, lynxes and jungle cats have all been found.
The most convincing evidence Mr Bamping said he had seen is the body of a large lynx found in Norfolk in 1991.
His society now has 3,000 members and regularly visit areas to conduct more research, if they get enough evidence.
“We have had plenty of solid evidence to prove their existence,” said Mr Bamping, “But not a lot of people know about that.”
In January of 2011, the News reported how Belper man Neil Green spotted what looked to be the remnants of a big cat attack on Wyver Lane in the town.
The carcass of a sheep looked to have been ripped apart when Mr Green spotted the remains.
The News has now sent the pictures of the suspected big cat encounter over to Mr Bamping for his expert opinion.
He said: “It looks to me as if the sheep carcass had been there for a while before it was discovered.
“It could really have been anything.
“But when you look at one of the wider shots of where it was killed and how it was killed, it is possible.
“There’s not many things that can do that. Maybe a fox or a savage dog.
“If the sheep had only just been killed there would be more evidence to tell that it was a cat kill.”
However at the time, Mr Green, 34, who spotted the carcass while walking his dog Toby was convinced.
“It looked like a lion attack,” he said. You can’t describe it any other way than a massive cat has attacked it. It looked like something from the Discovery Channel.”
In March, 2009, another dog walker discovered a giant paw print by Black Rocks in Cromford.
The marking measured four-inches and was discovered in open ground next to a public footpath.
The finder, Brian Smith, said at the time: “I’ve never seen anything like it before but I’ve heard people talking about big cats.
“I compared it to my dog’s paw print and it was much bigger.”
A paw print was also discovered in January of the same year. a three-inch wide print was spotted by Wirksworth farmer Peter Ward, of Barrel Farm, Millers Green.
He found the print on land near where he kept the cattle.
Mr Bamping said the two findings could be big cat paw prints as they are significantly larger than those of a dogs. The animals walk with their claws retracted, he added, and the two sightings do not describe the claws being imprinted.
l Have you spotted anything curious in and around Belper you just cannot explain?
Get in touch with your stories via editor@belpernews.co.uk.

Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators by Rich Minter details sightings around the country

2012-01-10T05:59:00.000Z

9:00am Saturday 7th January 2012 in News

By Ian Craig »

THE mysterious big cats said to be prowling the Cotswolds are the subject of a new book.
Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, written by Gloucestershire-based environmental consultant Rich Minter details the history of sightings of the mysterious beats across the country.
The Cotswolds has long been the rumoured home to big cats, with a mysterious 4.5ft creature caught on CCTV near Cirencester Hospital in 2005.
Just weeks earlier, former Cotswold District Council chief executive Bob Austin had spoken of seeing a large black cat near his Stratton home, and the next year a Cirencester teacher told the Standard how he had encountered a large black beast while cycling home.
Other sightings have been reported around the Cotswolds, including in Northleach, Malmesbury, Tetbury, Siddington and South Cerney.
Though the beasts are usually harmless, in 2002 a farmer in Minety reported a large animal was mauling his sheep, and a neighbouring farmer said something had been attacking his sheep.
Author Rick Minter said his book features many cases from throughout Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and testimonials from a range of local experts.
“There are many incidents discussed in the book, where people have reported feeling privileged to have watched a big cat in the wild, felt alarmed at an encounter which was too close for comfort, watched a big cat follow its prey – especially deer – and observed a big cat forage for rabbits and mice,” he added.
The book has widespread received praise from reviewers and experts – former producer of the BBC’s Springwatch Stephen Moss said Mr Minter “Weaves a fascinating story around British sightings of these fearsome predators, without resorting to sensationalism.”

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Big cat sightings

2012-01-10T05:57:00.002Z

Leicester Mercury
Thursday, January 05, 2012

Big cat sightings reported in the Leicester Mercury include:
August 1998: Prints found at Ketton Quarry, Rutland, were believed to be those of the Catmose Cat. Castle Cement, which owned the quarry, made a set of concrete prints, which experts said appeared to be feline.
September 2000: Graham Pearce, of Measham, shot video footage of a suspected big cat near the village.
Early 2001: Three sightings in the countryside around Coalville were reported to Leicestershire and Rutland Panther Watch within three weeks.
There were also two sightings around Coalville in February the following year.
August 2001: Three big cats were reported several miles apart within a month – in Stathern, Twyford and Lowesby.
September 2002: Joanna Baker, the education officer at Twycross Zoo, reported seeing a 3ft-long cat on a path near Snarestone.
July 2004: A brown, puma-like animal was seen by motorist Diane Bean, 56, of Scraptoft. It crossed the road in front of her car just outside Beeby.
2007: Pc Mick Kaiser, of Shepshed, was jogging along a disused railway when he saw a big black cat.
September 2009: Jenny Worthington spotted a big cat near Moira, days after finding a cat-like paw print.
September 2010: Solar panel fitter Pete Base was driving past Greetham Valley Golf Club, in Rutland, when he spotted what he believed was a panther about 100 yards in front of him.
New Years Day, 2012: Teenager Sarah Burdett saw a big cat in fields at Foxton.

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2012-01-10T05:55:00.002Z

Tamworth Herald
Thursday, January 05, 2012

Sixty-six-year-old Michael Greatrex spotted the massive prints in mud in a field off Boulters Lane in Wood End as he walked his dog over the Christmas holidays.
He told the Herald: "I was walking down the edge of the field when I noticed some massive paw prints in the mud.
"I was shocked at the size of them. I am open-minded about whether there is a big cat out there – I don't know, but I don't see how these paw prints could have been made by anything else.
"I showed my daughter the picture and she said: "do you think that is the cause of the dogs going missing from the area?
"That was something I hadn't thought about, but I suppose it could be a possibility", he added.
There have been four reported sightings of the big cat in the area in the last few months, including reports from a police officer who lives in Baddesley Ensor who said she had seen the big cat twice in November, in fields between Baddesley and Baxterley.
Over the last ten years there have been scores of sightings of the creature.
Described by most people as a black sleek creature, it is believed to most likely be a melanistic leopard, commonly referred to as a black panther.
Have you seen the big cat? Do you have a story to tell? Email helen.machin@cintamworth.co.uk

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Feline ‘as big as a German Shepherd dog’ spied in Somerset

2012-01-10T05:54:00.002Z

Thursday, January 05, 2012
Central Somerset Gazette

A large black cat-like creature has been spotted prowling across woods in Glastonbury.
The cat – described as being jet black, and around the size of a German Shepherd dog – was spotted by Sarah Rawlinson as she walked her dog in Wick Hollow on December 28.
“I thought it might have been a dog at first,” she said.
“But it was watching me with these huge, intense, yellow eyes from the other side of the road. I wasn’t really sure what to do. After a moment or so, it leapt about 3ft into the woods.”
When Sarah got home, she told her mother what she had seen, and was surprised when her mother said she believed she had seen the same creature about a month ago.
The sighting is thought to be the first reported in central Somerset since 2002, when a large, panther-like cat was spotted in Meare.
The area has proven to be something of a hot spot for big cat sightings, with large cat-type animals reported in August 2001 in Butleigh, in Meare in 2002, in Banwell, Winscombe and Wedmore in 2007, Draycott in 2008 and Somerton in 2010.
Police have said they have not had any sightings of large cats reported to them in Glastonbury. They are, however, urging people to people to report any sightings of the animal if they believe it could be a risk.
Many big sightings are believed to be have due to Maine Coon or Savannah cats, both particularly large breeds of domestic cat.
Male Maine Coons can weigh up to 11kg, and can be up to 41cm high and 36 cm long, with a long, thick tail. A spokeswoman for Orchard Veterinary Group said they had not been made aware of any big cat sightings, but said it would be unusual for a domestic cat to grow to the size of a German Shepherd dog.
They also said they were not aware of anyone with a large, domestic breed cat in that area.
“Some domestic tom cats can grow to be pretty big, though,” she said.
Have you seen the cat? If so, we’d love to hear from you.
Contact the Central Somerset Gazette on 01749 832336 or email central@midsomnews.co.uk . Any photographs of the animal would be especially welcome.

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Has Ryan captured big cat on camera?

2012-01-10T05:53:00.000Z

by Jonathan Whiley, Merthyr Express

Jan 5 2012

HAS the mystery big cat of Merthyr Tydfil finally been caught on camera?
Ryan McCarthy took a picture of what he believes to be the feral feline during a walk on the hills of Dowlais Top.
And he thinks that the snap may provide proof that the prowling predator is continuing to stalk the borough.
“I have spotted this cat or what looks to be this cat on a few occasions now,” he said.

“This was taken on the hills approaching Dowlais top just off the slip road at approximately 8.45am while I was on my daily walk.
“It appears harmless and non-threatening to humans.
“On the few occasions I have seen it, it has just walked away from me or simply carried on cleaning and grooming itself as it was doing in the picture, depending on how much distance is between us.”
Sightings of the animal have flooded in since coach driver Robert Davies spotted a large black cat “bounding” across the A470 near Cyfarthfa Retail Park in December. Experts reacted by warning the public to lock up their animals.
Big cat expert Danny Nineham said: “Until they see a big cat, most people don’t believe it but we’re not claiming it’s Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster or that aliens have invaded – it is very real. We have got hundreds of these things.”
Have you seen Merthyr’s mystery big cat? Call Jonathan Whiley on 029 2024 3972 or e-mail jonathan.whiley@walesonline.co.uk

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2012/01/05/has-ryan-captured-big-cat-on-camera-91466-30061330/#ixzz1j22cflPu

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10-year hunt for prowling panther

2012-01-10T05:52:00.000Z

by Jonathan Whiley, Merthyr Express

Dec 22 2011

THE big cat of Merthyr Tydfil could have been stalking the borough for more than a decade after a woman claimed she saw the panther in the late 1990s.
Kathleen John, of Aneurin Crescent, Twynyrodyn, said she startled the prowling predator in her back garden more than 10 years ago, before it leapt over her 7ft hedge into the darkness.
Reliving the terrifying encounter, she said: “It was the winter and about 7am in the morning and still dark.
“I went into the garden to put rubbish into my bin and as I tried to open the outer door it was sticking and made a noise.
“As the security light came on I was aware of something large and black on the lawn. At first I thought it was a large dog.
“It moved quickly as the light came on towards the bottom of the garden and leapt over the hedge, clearing it which was strange because the hedge is about 7ft high.
“I would have thought a dog wouldn’t have be able to clear it so easily, if at all. It must have been a large cat such as a panther.”
Ms John believes the beast she spotted, which had a “small head and long legs” was stalking its next victim.
“Our garden leads onto a park and open space so it may have chased a small animal such as a squirrel.
“I can’t fathom why else it would be attracted to our garden as we have no pets and always use our wheelie bin for food waste.”
In last week’s Express farmer Phillip Davies of Aberfan told how he spotted a big cat prowling through his fields.
And in an earlier incident, Mr Davies found the carcass of one of his lambs dangling from a tree – leading to fears the panther might strike again.
Fay Thomas, 36, of Brecon Heights, Merthyr, said that her husband Gareth spotted a mystery beast a year ago.
“He was walking the dog and as he looked down he could see the panther,” she said.
“He said it was massive and his tail was about 3ft. We were hysterical laughing at the time and we joked about starting up a panther trail. But he was in a real sweat – he came in, sat down and had a paracetamol.
“He said he had stumbled as he went to get his mobile phone to take a picture and it ran away.”
Mr Thomas said that he did not fear the beast which he describes as “the length and a half of a sheep”.
“I wasn’t scared. I went to try and take a picture but as I ran down the bank I fell over and by the time I went back up it had gone.”
Mrs Thomas said she was shocked that the predator had returned and was confident she knew where its lair was.
“It is like a tunnel on the Heads of the Valleys Road, it is about 30ft and leads through to a farm,” she said. I think it is sleeping there.
“My dog always tries to go near there. I have seen some carcasses up there.
“It is really worrying – I am afraid to go up there. I thought they lived in hot climates.
“I can’t believe it has come back.”
Have you spotted the mystery big cat? E-mail jonathan.whiley@mediawales.co.uk

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Family on track of big cat in Leicestershire

2012-01-10T05:51:00.000Z

Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Leicester Mercury

A teenager started 2012 with a shock when she opened her bedroom curtains to see a big cat trotting along outside.
Fifteen-year-old Sarah Burdett, from Foxton, and her father's partner, Lora Cannon, then tracked the animal, finding tracks and faeces, which they say point to something like a panther or a black leopard.

Lora Cameron watches out for the big cat spotted outside her home in Foxton

Rutland and Leicestershire Pantherwatch said it was the UK's first big cat sighting of the year. Sarah said: "I'd just woken up on New Year's Day and I looked out of my window.
"Running across the field I saw this massive black thing.
"I've owned a cat and its tail was just like a cat's but it was massive. It also had pointy ears just like a cat. It was a bit scary because it was the last thing I expected to see."
Sarah and her dad's partner, Lora Cannon, immediately pulled on their shoes and coats and headed out across the fields behind the house.
Lora, 46, said: "While we were out we found some tracks that were interesting.
"Unlike all the dog tracks we found, these ones had no claw marks, which suggested to me it was a cat.
"We also found some poo that had a lot of hair in it, so we thought it was an animal that had been chomping on rabbits and eating the fur.
"Before we reported the sighting we went on to the internet and checked out everything we'd seen and it was very exciting.
"I'm pretty confident Sarah knows what she saw and the more we investigated it, the more convinced we were. I'll definitely go walking with my camera handy from now on."
After they reported their sighting online to national organisation Big Cats in Britain, Nigel Spencer from the local group, got in touch and went for a walk in the area with Sarah and Lora.
He said the animal could be related to one spotted near Foxton some years ago.
He said: "Reports around Foxton and the canal have been common since we first started investigations in the 1990s.
"But whether this is the same animal or offspring, I wouldn't like to say. Five years is the normal lifespan in captivity.
"It's a very interesting report because it had been quite quiet in this area before this report."
He said while evidence of big cats was not conclusive, there was too much of it to deny their existence in the British countryside.
For more information and to report a sighting, visit: www.bigcatsinbritain.org/

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I've no doubt there are big cats out there

2012-01-10T05:49:00.000Z

Thursday, January 05, 2012
Leicestershire Mercury

There have been so many big cat sightings in Leicestershire and Rutland – the latest on January 1 – that some experts are convinced there are breeding populations. But Tom Mack hears that conclusive evidence might never be found
For big cat hunter Nigel Spencer, the interest in the big cats that seem to be living and breeding in parts of Leicestershire has become a passion.

Nigel has taken over the reins of Rutland and Leicestershire Pantherwatch, an organisation set up by his father, David.
One of the first groups to be set up online, it now works with similar groups up and down the country collecting reports.
Barely a month goes by without newspaper articles about sightings across the country appearing in newspapers, and UK website bigcatsinbritain.org has more than 5,000 logged reports in total.
Many sightings are made by police officers and other trusted authority figures.
So while the news coverage of the big cat issue still has the whiff of a conspiracy about it, Nigel sees no comparison between his hunt and the more quirky paranormal investigations others get involved in.
The 49-year-old, from Oakham, said: "Big cats are breeding in the UK, without a shadow of a doubt.
"We have a lot of sightings in Leicestershire and similar things are happening in every county in the UK, as well as in Ireland and parts of France.
"The reports of sightings include about 80 made by British police officers.
"But actually filming them in the wild and proving there are breeding populations out there – rather than just the occasional escaped animal – is very difficult."
He said the stealthy movements of the animals, combined with the areas they live in, make them hard to find.
"In Africa, you just set up a camera by a water hole and all the animals from two miles around will come by, and in the Americas, where pumas come from, they can be seen in the open country.
"Here, they can easily dart into the undergrowth and quickly disappear.
"It would take millions of pounds, with helicopters and thermal imaging cameras, to actually track them properly in this country."
Yesterday, the Leicester Mercury reported on the New Year's Day sighting, made by 15-year-old Sarah Burdett. After seeing a big cat stalk across a field outside her bedroom in Foxton, she went outside to track the beast.
She found both paw prints and faeces containing animal fur that she believed suggested a feline predator was in the area.
While Sarah made a report within an hour, many others living in the countryside don't think to report sightings anymore, Nigel said. "I'm very surprised more people didn't see the cat at Foxton," he said.
"Over the years, we must have had between 15 and 20 sightings in that area, so I'm sure an animal lives in that area.
"But I think with all the sightings, people are now used to the idea big cats are out there so they don't report sightings."
Nigel said the main questions of doubters could be answered easily.
The first question is where the animals came from, to which Nigel answers: "Back in the 1960s, people could buy panthers, pumas and even lions and tigers from Harrods.
"There are pictures of people walking them in the street.
"When the Dangerous Animals Act 1976 came in, there were a number of years before releasing dangerous animals into the wild became an offence.
"The act meant people needed to buy cages and have inspections and a lot couldn't be bothered with the red tape.
"Many admitted on television that they released animals into the wild, including a man from Coventry who released a couple of pumas in Derbyshire.
"It's been too long for these new sightings to be animals released in the 70s, so that suggests they're breeding in the wild or being bred for the black market and being released."
The other main query is how they can survive in England.
"These are very adaptable animals," Nigel said. "Pumas live in the Rocky Mountains in America where temperatures drop to -30C and with the large number of rabbits in England, it's easy for them to hunt."
What convinces Nigel most, however, was his own experience of seeing a puma while driving through Essex 11 years ago.
He said: "I was driving through a village on my way back from a job when a puma crossed the road in front of me.
"It was two feet away and its head was higher than the bonnet of my car."
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it did not collect reports on big cats and had never found conclusive evidence of big cats living in the wild.
She said: "Natural England receives some sightings of big cats on behalf of the Government and a handful of reports have been received over recent years.
"They have sent people out to investigate but there's never been evidence of big cats found in those cases."
See the Rutland and Leicestershire Panther Watch website at: www.bigcats.org.uk/
Big cat sightings
Big cat sightings reported in the Leicester Mercury include:
August 1998: Prints found at Ketton Quarry, Rutland, were believed to be those of the Catmose Cat. Castle Cement, which owned the quarry, made a set of concrete prints, which experts said appeared to be feline.
September 2000: Graham Pearce, of Measham, shot video footage of a suspected big cat near the village.
Early 2001: Three sightings in the countryside around Coalville were reported to Leicestershire and Rutland Panther Watch within three weeks.
There were also two sightings around Coalville in February the following year.
August 2001: Three big cats were reported several miles apart within a month – in Stathern, Twyford and Lowesby.
September 2002: Joanna Baker, the education officer at Twycross Zoo, reported seeing a 3ft-long cat on a path near Snarestone.
July 2004: A brown, puma-like animal was seen by motorist Diane Bean, 56, of Scraptoft. It crossed the road in front of her car just outside Beeby.
2007: Pc Mick Kaiser, of Shepshed, was jogging along a disused railway when he saw a big black cat.
September 2009: Jenny Worthington spotted a big cat near Moira, days after finding a cat-like paw print.
September 2010: Solar panel fitter Pete Base was driving past Greetham Valley Golf Club, in Rutland, when he spotted what he believed was a panther about 100 yards in front of him.
New Years Day, 2012: Teenager Sarah Burdett saw a big cat in fields at Foxton.

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.

Does waste pipe hold the key to big cat mystery?

2012-01-10T05:47:00.002Z

by Jonathan Whiley, Merthyr Express

Jan 5 2012

IS this waste pipe home to the mystery big cat of Merthyr Tydfil?
Gareth Thomas, of Brecon Heights, Merthyr, believes that this tunnel could be where the mystery creature – reported to look like a black panther – is sleeping as it stalks the borough.
Mr Thomas first reported seeing the prowling predator when he had ventured out to walk his dog.
“I was out walking my dog up in the Brecon Heights area when returning, I spotted a black cat in the distance,” he said.
“It was around 100 yards away walking behind two sheep so I could clearly see the size of the animal.
“It was around the length of a sheep and more with a long tail.
“I ran after the animal because I had concern for my pet as it was not that far away.
“As I made a move towards the animal, it ran in the direction of the tunnel that passes under the road.
“I lost my footing and after getting back up to see the cat it vanished in the direction of the tunnel.
“If I had my mobile phone, I would have taken a photo but I didn’t at the time.
“I then came home and told the family, who gave me nothing but grief for the past year.
“Now there have been sightings of the cat it doesn’t make me look like I’ve been to Bristol Zoo.”
The tunnel, which is next to the A465, Heads of the Valleys Road, leads to a farm and is not far from Cyfarthfa Retail Park where bus driver Robert Davies claimed he spotted a large black cat “bounding” across the carriageway.
The Express also reported how Chris James, 51, spotted what he thought was the beast at the retail park.
“It just bounded across the road in front of me,” he said.
“It was the length of the front of my car – its tail was 3ft long in itself.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2012/01/05/does-waste-pipe-hold-the-key-to-big-cat-mystery-91466-30061331/#ixzz1j21Grz3z

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Ditchling woman spots the Beast of the Beacon

2012-01-04T06:13:00.000Z

12:10pm Tuesday 3rd January 2012 in News

By Neil Vowles »

The Argus

First there was the Beast of Bevendean - now we have the Beast of the Beacon.
A mother-of-two believes she spotted a lynx prowling along the roadside outside Ditchling village over the festive period.
Eileen Nutley said the creature she saw was too big to be a domestic cat but was too distinctly feline-looking to be a dog.
Experts said that big cat sightings were common around Ditchling Beacon although most witnesses described a panther-like creature rather than a lynx.
Mrs Nutley was driving home along Beacon Road, Ditchling, with her 32-year-old daughter Andrea Acton at about 6.30pm on the Tuesday before Christmas.
She said she was driving down Beacon Road towards Ditchling when she spotted a creature moving close to the roadside at the junction with Long Park Corner.
She said: “I spotted a creature coming towards the road, I can only describe it as a big cat.
“As we drove past, my daughter and I were both shocked and we both just said: ‘I think it was a lynx’.
“It definitely wasn’t a domestic cat, it was about the same size as a small Labrador but with pointed ears, grey coloured and a very feline face.
“I’m just sorry we didn’t have the chance to take a picture.”
Mrs Nutley said she had been speaking to villagers over Christmas in the hope that someone else might have spotted something.
She said that the landlord of the White Horse pub in Ditchling told her his dog had chased after an unusual looking creature on the Beacon a few weeks earlier.
Lynxes are medium-sized wildcats with short tails, characteristic tufts of black hair on the tip of their ears and a ruff under their necks.
Have you ever spotted a big cat in Sussex? Tell us by calling the newsdesk on 01273 544519, emailing letters@theargus.co.uk or commenting below.

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MoD dismisses big cat cover up claims

2011-12-30T22:38:00.000Z

Darlington and Stockton Times »

News »

30th December

THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) has dismissed claims that it attempted to cover up the existence of large cats prowling the North York Moors.
A new book has detailed reports of a large wild cat being found on the A169 Pickering to Whitby road, near RAF Fylingdales, while dozens of sightings of panther or puma-like creatures have been reported to police across the North-East and North Yorkshire in recent years.
Witnesses stated seeing a large cat “the length of a sheep” near the base in 2004, with one delivery driver claiming he saw the body being loaded into a car, possibly used by MoD police.
Rick Minter, author of Big Cats: Facing Britain’s Wild Predators, claims staff at the ballistic missile early warning station saw the body of the creature and that it was kept in a vault at the isolated base.
Mr Minter compared the incident to the US government’s alleged cover-up of an alien in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.
He said: “It is at RAF Fylingdales that we have Britain’s Roswell moment on big cats.”
A MoD spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims, other than to describe them as “rubbish”.
However, Mark Fraser, of Big Cats in Britain, which investigates sightings, said it was possible the Fylingdales big cat sightings had been covered up, but there would be no sinister motive behind it.
He said: “The Government is not going to want people to panic – there is a lot of money in countryside industry. I don’t see why these people would lie about seeing large cats.”
Mr Fraser said evidence pointed towards isolated big cats surviving from hunting rabbits and originating from the numerous private zoos in North Yorkshire and the North-East before the Second World War.
Freedom of Information requests have revealed the region’s police forces received more than 30 calls about big cats in recent years, but Mr Fraser said police officer members of his group said the figures underestimated reported sightings.
A County Durham police spokesman said: “Reports of sightings are followed up as appropriate.”
In 1995, North Yorkshire Police opened a file on the Beast of Ryedale and drew up a contigency plan, after a pumatype animal was spotted.
Other incidents recorded by the police include one near Richmond, North Yorkshire, last December, when two sheep carcasses were found stripped to the bone.
In 2006, a Durham farmer reported that one of his sheep had been attacked by what appeared to be a large cat, while in October 2010 there was a report of a sheep in Darlington with its front legs and half its neck eaten.

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Big Cats In Britain: Is It A Ministry Of Defence 'Roswell' Cover Up?

2011-12-30T22:37:00.000Z

The Huffington Post
30th December 2011

Big cats are stalking the country lanes of rural Britain, but their existence is being covered up by Ministry of Defence, a new book claims.
Rick Minter, author of Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, claims that the body of a large black cat was carried into an RAF Base in North Yorkshire, and the corpse is now being kept in a MOD vault.
"It is at RAF Fylingdales that we have Britain's Roswell moment on big cats," claims Minter in his book, referring to the reported alien crash landing in New Mexico, which conspiracy theorists believe was covered up by the US air force.
"Retired staff apparently talked about a 'body on the table' and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor."
Big cat sightings in the UK are common according to Mark Fraser who runs the website Big Cats In Britain.
However no corpse of a puma or leopard has ever been found.
North Yorkshire seems to have the dubious distinction of being a hotbed of puma and pather sightings. A spokesperson for the North Yorkshire police told the Huffington Post UK:
"There's been various sightings over the years. Every summertime, we get a good spate of sightings right across the county, in both forest areas and close to the coast. There's never been any proof though."
Sheep and deer carcasses are hailed by farmers as evidence of a panther, puma or black leopard roaming the countryside.
A savaged sheep found sprawled across a North Yorkshire road in December 2010 was widely attributed to a big cat. At the time, PC John Wilbor told local newspaper "The Press":
“The evidence seems to fit with a possible big cat attack.”
Mark Fraser of Big Cats In Britain told the Huffington Post UK: "We get reports of big cat sightings almost every day. I don't believe there are hundreds out there though.
"He [Minter] quotes reports of a large black leopard in RAF Fylingdales. One investigator talked to a guard at the gate who saw the leopard come in. I don't believe for a second it's being kept in a vault though. The government will never admit it."
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

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'Big cats roaming British countryside'

2011-12-30T22:34:00.000Z

Punjab Star News
29th December London, Dec 29 (IANS)

Big cats were stalking the British countryside but top government officials tried to cover it up, says a new book.
Hundreds of sightings have been recorded over the years, of the Beast of Bodmin Moor to the Surrey Puma, but the book 'Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators' now claim that such evidence of them was suppressed by officials from the ministry of defence, according to the Daily Mail.
Author Rick Minter claimed that the body of a 'fearsome puma-like animal' was also being kept hidden in a top security vault at the Royal Air Force Fylingdales base.
'Retired staff apparently talked about a 'body on the table' and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor,' the book says.
It was reported in June 2004 that a large cat 'the length of a sheep' was killed on a road near the base.
Farmers also claimed they lost sheep to a large animal roaming the area. A video footage was released in 1998 that showed a black animal resembling a wild cat.
In 1983, around 100 sheep were killed near South Molton, and photographs showed a big cat. But no creature was ever caught, the report said.
The department for food and rural affairs says the claims were unsubstantiated.
Read more about Punjab news Online in punjab star news by webmaster

London, Dec 29 (IANS) Big cats were stalking the British countryside but top government officials tried to cover it up, says a new book.
Hundreds of sightings have been recorded over the years, of the Beast of Bodmin Moor to the Surrey Puma, but the book 'Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators' now claim that such evidence of them was suppressed by officials from the ministry of defence, according to the Daily Mail.
Author Rick Minter claimed that the body of a 'fearsome puma-like animal' was also being kept hidden in a top security vault at the Royal Air Force Fylingdales base.
'Retired staff apparently talked about a 'body on the table' and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor,' the book says.
It was reported in June 2004 that a large cat 'the length of a sheep' was killed on a road near the base.
Farmers also claimed they lost sheep to a large animal roaming the area. A video footage was released in 1998 that showed a black animal resembling a wild cat.
In 1983, around 100 sheep were killed near South Molton, and photographs showed a big cat. But no creature was ever caught, the report said.
The department for food and rural affairs says the claims were unsubstantiated.
Read more about Punjab news Online in punjab star news by webmaster

London, Dec 29 (IANS) Big cats were stalking the British countryside but top government officials tried to cover it up, says a new book.

Hundreds of sightings have been recorded over the years, of the Beast of Bodmin Moor to the Surrey Puma, but the book 'Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators' now claim that such evidence of them was suppressed by officials from the ministry of defence, according to the Daily Mail.

Author Rick Minter claimed that the body of a 'fearsome puma-like animal' was also being kept hidden in a top security vault at the Royal Air Force Fylingdales base.

'Retired staff apparently talked about a 'body on the table' and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor,' the book says.

It was reported in June 2004 that a large cat 'the length of a sheep' was killed on a road near the base.

Farmers also claimed they lost sheep to a large animal roaming the area. A video footage was released in 1998 that showed a black animal resembling a wild cat.

In 1983, around 100 sheep were killed near South Molton, and photographs showed a big cat. But no creature was ever caught, the report said.

The department for food and rural affairs says the claims were unsubstantiated.

Read more about Punjab news Online in punjab star news by webmaster

‘Big cats roaming British countryside’

2011-12-30T22:31:00.000Z

Thaindian News

29 December 2011 11:55:25 by IANS
London, Dec 29 (IANS) Big cats were stalking the British countryside but top government officials tried to cover it up, says a new book.
Hundreds of sightings have been recorded over the years, of the Beast of Bodmin Moor to the Surrey Puma, but the book “Big Cats: Facing Britain’s Wild Predators” now claim that such evidence of them was suppressed by officials from the ministry of defence, according to the Daily Mail.
Author Rick Minter claimed that the body of a “fearsome puma-like animal” was also being kept hidden in a top security vault at the Royal Air Force Fylingdales base.
“Retired staff apparently talked about a ‘body on the table’ and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor,” the book says.
It was reported in June 2004 that a large cat “the length of a sheep” was killed on a road near the base.
Farmers also claimed they lost sheep to a large animal roaming the area. A video footage was released in 1998 that showed a black animal resembling a wild cat.
In 1983, around 100 sheep were killed near South Molton, and photographs showed a big cat. But no creature was ever caught, the report said.
The department for food and rural affairs says the claims were unsubstantiated.

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MoD chiefs 'hid evidence' of big cats prowling UK, new book claims

2011-12-30T22:30:00.000Z

Puma's body 'is being kept in secure vault at RAF base

By Damien Gayle
Last updated at 7:52 PM on 29th December 2011
Ministry of Defence chiefs are covering up the existence of big cats stalking the British countryside, according to explosive claims in a new book.

Hundreds of big cat sightings have been recorded over the years, from the Beast of Bodmin Moor to the Surrey Puma, but it is now claimed that evidence of them has been suppressed.

Rick Minter, author of Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, claims that the body of a fearsome puma-like animal is being kept hidden in a top security vault at an RAF base.

He likens the alleged cover-up to the U.S. government's veil of secrecy surrounding an alien crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.

In the book, seen by the Sun, he writes: 'It is at RAF Fylingdales that we have Britain's Roswell moment on big cats.

'Retired staff apparently talked about a "body on the table" and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor.'

A local paper from the area reported in June 2004 that a large cat 'the length of a sheep' was killed on the Pickering to Whitby road near to the base.

Mark Fraser, who investigates big cat sightings as part of the Big Cats In Britain group, told the Sun such a body was the 'Holy Grail' of his investigations.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079676/MoD-chiefs-hid-evidence-big-cats-prowling-UK-new-book-claims.html#ixzz1i3lqCOU7

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MoD ‘hid big cat sightings’

2011-12-29T05:27:00.000Z

‘Puma’s body in RAF vault’
The Sun

By RHODRI PHILLIPS

Published: Today

DEFENCE chiefs are trying to cover up the existence of big cats stalking Britain's countryside, a new book claims.

The body of a fearsome puma-like animal is said to be hidden in a top security vault at an RAF base.
Hundreds of big cat sightings have been recorded over the years — from the Beast of Bodmin in Cornwall to the Surrey Puma. The Government's environment department Defra insists evidence is "unsubstantiated".
But Rick Minter, author of Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, claims staff at RAF Fylingdales, North Yorks, saw the body of the "puma".
He likens it to the US government's alleged cover-up of an alien in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. He writes: "It is at RAF Fylingdales that we have Britain's Roswell moment on big cats.
"Retired staff apparently talked about a 'body on the table' and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor."
In June 2004, a local paper reported that a large cat "the length of a sheep" was killed on the Pickering to Whitby road near RAF Fylingdales.
Mark Fraser, of Big Cats in Britain, which investigates sightings, said: "What is the cover-up here? The Holy Grail in these investigations is a body. If the MoD have a body, we'd like to know about it."
A series of photos taken in Cornwall claim to show the Beast of Bodmin. In 1983, the Beast of Exmoor was blamed for the deaths of 100 sheep near South Molton.

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Mapped: Big cat spotted twice by Welsh farmer as carcass of lamb found dangling from tree

2011-12-28T07:28:00.000Z

Brendan Hughes, South Wales Echo

Dec 14 2011

A FARMER has told how he found the carcass of one of his lambs dangling from a tree – after spotting a big cat prowling through his fields.
Philip Davies now has fresh fears for his flock after seeing the black cat for a second time. It is the latest sighting of a creature being described as a “big cat” in the South Wales Valleys.
Mr Davies, 51, of Aberfan, said: “It’s very worrying – you’re watching the sheep all the time.
“The lambs are coming up in March and April and so I would like to catch him by then.”

Mr Davies was with his two sheepdogs on his Ynys Y Gored farm when he spotted the big cat at about 12.30pm on December 5.
That was just two days after coach driver Robert Davies, 61, of Hirwaun, said he witnessed a large feline “bounding” across the road at the Cyfarthfa Retail Park near Merthyr Tydfil as he returned from work. The two locations are just a short distance apart along the A470.
Farmer Mr Davies said he was between 150 and 200 yards away when he saw the cat just above the Taff Trail near the dual carriageway.
“It was just a bit of a shock to me when I saw it. I have told people on the Taff Trail to beware,” Mr Davies said.
“The way it was walking, it wasn’t a pussycat and it wasn’t a dog – I know my animals. I would have gone after it if I had a gun.”
Mr Davies said his wife, 48-year-old Susan, also saw the big cat, which he said was about three-to-four feet in length.
“I phoned my wife as well just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and she was seeing it as well,” Mr Davies said.
Mr Davies said he discovered one of his lambs hanging from a tree after he first spotted the big cat two years ago.
“The lamb up the tree could have been as a result of the cat, but I can’t say for definite it was the cat,” said the lifelong farmer, who also works as a lorry driver for Merthyr Tydfil council.
But big cat expert Mark Williams said no other animal in the UK would be capable of carrying a carcass up a tree, and said the animal could be a panther.
Mr Williams, who has been studying big cats sightings for the past six years, said: “They stash their carcasses in high places, in trees and bushes.
“They stash it out of reach of foxes and badgers and return to it later to eat it again.
“It’s just their habit to keep it out of the way of other predators.”

Big cat sightings in Wales

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/12/14/by-the-way-it-walked-it-wasn-t-a-cat-and-it-wasn-t-a-dog-91466-29952920/#ixzz1hoPc0nuo

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2011-12-28T07:27:00.002Z

Latest 'sighting' of big cat roaming the area

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tamworth Herald

69-YEAR-OLD Austrey woman has reported the latest sighting of a big cat.
The woman, who does not wish to be named, claims she saw the beast at the end of November in Warton Lane.

She told the Herald: "It was the evening and we were driving towards Warton. I saw the black cat just walk across the road and disappear into a hedge.
"It was definitely not a dog, I could tell by the way it moved. It had a cat's walk, it sort of sauntered across the road."
Her husband says he has seen the big cat twice before – once in the No Mans Heath area and once in Cinder Lane in Austrey.
There have been many sightings in the Warton area over the last nine years – and some possible 'evidence', including a horse bearing what its owners believe were 'big cat' claw marks – and a sheep which had its carcass stripped bare by what the farmer believed was a big cat.
The latest sightings in our area have been in Shuttington and Baddesley Ensor – with both people describing a black panther-type creature.
This week sees the launch of a new book on the subject – 'Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators'.
Author Rick Minter spoke to the Herald about the evidence he had seen during research for the book.
He said: "The big cats are most frequently seen by people walking dogs or riding horses, and by far the most common time to see them is at dawn or dusk.
"I first saw one over ten years ago in Cumbria and it made me realise that they are real – they are out there.
"There have been lots of sightings and there is also some compelling photographic evidence.
"I think there is more footage out there too, but people don't want to come forward, sometimes just because they're shy and sometimes because they want to protect the big cat.
"Gloucestershire and Thames Valley police say they have evidence that big cats are breeding in their area.
"Melanistic leopards account for three-quarters of the sightings, with most of the rest being mountain lions or lynx. There is an abundance of food out there for them."
Rick added: "Black panthers are a little like a stretched black labrador, but they walk in a straight line with a rolling, confident movement, whereas a dog's movement is much more erratic."
He also suggested that much evidence for big cats has come from carcasses of other wildlife believed to have been attacked.
"The kill has to be fresh to determine whether a cat has been at it. There will be clamp marks at the windpipe and the animal will be eaten from the back.
"There will be few other marks on the animal – the big cat has a tidy, almost clinical way of eating."
Have YOU seen the big cat? Email helen.machin@cintamworth.co.uk

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Merthyr’s big cat mystery deepens

2011-12-28T07:26:00.002Z

by Jonathan Whiley, Merthyr Express

Dec 15 2011

THE MYSTERY big cat of Merthyr Tydfil has been spotted again.
Phillip Davies, a farmer from Aberfan, told how he spotted a big cat prowling through his fields.
Mr Davies, 51, said: “It’s very worrying – I’m having to watch the sheep all the time.
“The lambs are coming up in March and April and so I would like to catch this big cat by then.”
Mr Davies was with his two sheepdogs on his Ynys Y Gored farm when he spotted the big cat just above the Taff Trail near the dual carriageway.
“It was a bit of a shock to me when I saw it. I have told people on the Taff Trail to beware,” Mr Davies, pictured, said.
“This animal was jet black with a long tail.”
In an earlier incident, he found the carcass of one of his lambs dangling from a tree.
“The lamb up the tree could have been as a result of the cat, but I can’t say for definite.”
But big cat expert Mark Williams said no other animal in the UK would be capable of carrying a carcass up a tree, and said the animal could be a panther.
Mr Williams, who has been studying big cats sightings for the past six years, said: “They stash their carcasses in high places, in trees and bushes.
“They stash it out of reach of foxes and badgers and return to it later to eat it again.
“It’s their habit to keep it out of the way of other predators.”
Karl Griffiths also spotted the predator, which he describes as a “dark cat-like figure”, as he was walking his King Charles Spaniel through the woods in Heolgerrig.
Reliving his encounter, the 32-year-old said: “As is the norm, I took my dog for a walk through the woods up the top of Heolgerrig.
“I always leave my dog off the lead, he has a sniff around, I walk on, he walks behind. However, on this morning, while he was doing his usual stop and sniff routine and as I was walking ahead, he let out a massive yelp, as if something had scared him.
“ I turned around, only to see my dog darting towards me as well as a dark cat-like figure leaping across the path, running deep in to the trees in the opposite direction.”
The latest sightings come less than a week after coach driver Robert Davies had spotted a large black cat “bounding” across the A470 near Cyfarthfa Retail Park in Merthyr.
Chris James, 51, a cat owner, also spotted what he thought was the beast at Cyfarthfa Retail Park: “It just bounded across the road in front of me.
“It was the length of the front of my car – it’s tail was 3ft long in itself. They are scavengers, they are not interested in mice or birds, they want something bigger, like sheep.”
Les Richards, a retired police officer, says he saw the big cat as he was driving to a petrol station in Penydarren.
“It was about 30 yards in front of the car,” the 62-year-old said.
“It was low to the ground, jet black and shiny with a long body.
“It was like a leopard with its legs outstretched. My wife thought she saw a dead cat by the side of the road as we drove past. I had never seen anything like it.
“I worked in central area control for the police and people ring about all sorts – we had a lot of alien sightings. But I am not a crank and I know what I saw.
“There is no doubt in my mind it was the creature.”
Mr Griffiths said that he had studied big cats for many years but had never spotted one on the prowl before last week. “It is common belief that a load of these animals were released in to the wild when the dangerous pets licence came in to play some years ago,” he said.
Have you seen the cat? Call Jonathan Whiley on 029 2024 3972 or email jonathan.whiley@mediawales.co.uk

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2011/12/15/merthyr-s-big-cat-mystery-deepens-91466-29954628/#ixzz1hoPDTL7I

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/merthyr/2011/12/15/merthyr-s-big-cat-mystery-deepens-91466-29954628/#ixzz1hoPA2V99

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Big cat with silky fur spotted in Abbeymead

2011-12-28T07:25:00.000Z

This is Gloucestershire
Monday, December 12, 2011
"IT had silky black fur and it was the size of a big dog. When I saw it I just turned and ran away."
Those are the words of Mark, from Abbeymead, who froze in his tracks last Sunday when he came face to face with a big black cat.

winter sightings: Big cat tracker Frank Tunbridge.

He was confronted by the animal in Upton Lane when returning from a night shift at 2am.
"I couldn't believe it," he said.
Bushes
"I was walking down the lane and I just saw this thing come out of the bushes. It stopped and looked at me. I just turned and ran.
"There was no mistaking it, it was definitely a cat. Just by looking at it I knew. It was the size of an extra large German Shephard."
Mark, who did not want to give his surname, admits to being fairly sceptical about the presence of wild cats before the encounter, but now there is no doubt in his mind.
"When I got in and told my wife. She told me to stop being silly, but I'm adamant that's what it was," he added.
"I have never seen anything like it before in my life.
"I have been assured there is nothing to worry about in terms of safety though, and I understand there have been a few sightings here before."
Following the incident, Mark contacted local big cat expert Frank Tunbridge.
Frank, who keeps a log of sightings reported to him, said: "We have had quite a few sightings from that area over the past few years.
"We tend to get a lot more sightings at this time of year due to the cold snap.
"The cats tend to head to where it is warmer, towards the more urban areas.
"Also their normal food, mammals, head underground for the winter so they tend to scavenge more off humans."
He added: "In all my 25 years monitoring big cats I've never known or heard of a dangerous attack on humans, so there's no need for people in the area to be afraid.
"The cat that Mark has described fits the description of 80 per cent of sightings."
Frank receives at least two, and sometimes as many as four, reports of big cats each month.
Gloucestershire has a high proportion of big cat sightings, especially in the Stroud Valleys.

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Cemetery visitors’ shock at ‘big cat’

2011-12-28T07:23:00.000Z

Cardiff News

Dec 9 2011

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/12/09/cemetery-visitors-shock-at-big-cat-91466-29922315/#ixzz1hoNxlQdT

THEY are more often found stalking the high plains and mountain ranges of the American continent.
Now a mountain lion has apparently been spotted in a rather more unlikely location – a South Wales cemetery.
Retired secretary Margaret Thomas, 76, of Roath, Cardiff, was more than a little surprised when she came “face to face” with the big cat in June.
The close encounter came when Mrs Thomas and her daughter Sarah, 42, were paying a visit to a relative’s grave in the city’s Thornhill Cemetery.
The pair, who said they were too embarrassed to tell authorities at the time, contacted the Echo after we revealed on Tuesday that a “panther-like” big cat had been spotted prowling on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil.
Coach driver Robert Davies, of Hirwaun, was driving home from work when he claims he saw a large black cat “bounding” across the A470 near Merthyr.
Mrs Thomas said her brush with a big cat came at around 6.30pm on June 28 when she and her daughter were walking through the cemetery near to where it backs on to Caerphilly Mountain.
The two were returning to their car after visiting Mrs Thomas’ mother’s grave when the beast walked across their path, turned to look at them and then headed off through the graveyard. She said: “It walked across and then stopped and stared right at us, as if to say ‘what are you looking at?’.
“It wasn’t a dog and it certainly wasn’t a fox. It just stood there about 20 yards away, with a dead rabbit swinging back and forth in its mouth.
“Both of us stood stock still, terrified to move, and then it turned around and sauntered on its way up the path.
“I remember the way it moved as it walked away, with a sort of swagger, almost like an arrogance – as if it owned the place. We didn’t appear to worry it in the least.”
The shaken pair then walked back to their car, where Sarah found her camera phone – but by then the cat had disappeared among the gravestones.
Sarah, of Thornhill, who owns a string of coffee shops in the city, added: “When I got home I Googled ‘big cats’ straight away and from what I could tell it was most similar to a mountain lion, except its fur was a greyish, minky colour.
“It had a long tail and pointy ears that were sticking up.”
She said she and her mother did not tell the cemetery staff because they were afraid no-one would believe them.
Mrs Thomas added: “Who would you call, and what would you say? ‘We’ve just seen a big cat walking through your cemetery?’
“But I know what I saw and it will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

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Sheep killed in field 'by Beast of Buckinghamshire'

2011-12-28T07:06:00.000Z

The Mirror

by Alun Palmer, Daily Mirror 17/12/2011

A SHEEP has been found mutilated by a puma – in a Hertfordshire field.
Farmer Johanna Collings, 40, who discovered the dismembered remains, said: “One of his front legs was gone and his rib cage was completely exposed.
“All the insides had been cleaned out perfectly, which is a typical trait of a cat. ”

Advertisement >>

The find in Loudwater, near Rickmansworth, follows 24 reported sightings of a big cat since January 2010 in the area. It has been dubbed the Beast of Buckinghamshire.
It comes after experts confirmed paw prints found on Wycombe Heights golf course, Bucks, were those of a puma. And Thames Valley Police wildlife officer PC Simon Towers recently found a big cat paw print in woodland in Oxfordshire.
He said: “We are not just getting reports from members of the public, but also from gamekeepers. They are coming from professionals.”

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/17/sheep-killed-in-field-by-beast-of-buckinghamshire-115875-23640963/#ixzz1hoKDbIRC
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/17/sheep-killed-in-field-by-beast-of-buckinghamshire-115875-23640963/#ixzz1hoJsUfdM

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Big cat spotted in town?

2011-12-28T07:04:00.000Z

The Warrington Guardian

2:30pm Monday 12th December 2011 in News

THERE has been another big cat sighting in the town. The lynx or jaguar-like creature was last spotted in Lymm in the summer but has been more recently spotted on Silver Lane, Risley.
The cat, which has been described as four feet long, brown in colour with a long tail, appeared in front of a car from bushes between the exit road of the m62 motorway and Silver Lane.
Nick Elliott, who spotted the cat, said: “It slowly strolled across the road ahead of us and looked straight at us with its eyes glaring bright in the headlights then darted into Pestfurlong Hill.
“I have heard rumours of a big cat since the 80/90s around Risley Moss.”

Comments(1)

motorhead2009 says...
12:56pm Tue 13 Dec 11

I used to live next to the Noggin back in the 1980's. i do recall a large black cat, more like a golden retreiver size in the field at the back one afternoon, but this is a long time ago !

Maybe its the moss boggart ? amyone ever heard of that ?

Could this be the big cat?

2011-12-28T07:01:00.000Z

The Warrington Guardian

2:30pm Friday 16th December 2011 in News

A READER believes he has solved the mystery surrounding a big cat sighting in Risley.
Reports described a four foot long cat which was brown in colour with a long tail and appeared in front of a car from bushes between the exit road of the m62 motorway and Silver Lane.
But reader Nigel Balding thinks a young male fox he has spotted within 200 metres of the sighting fits the description.
He said: "The fox is a little darker in colour than usual.
"He is very bold and has twice approached me when I have stood very still at the top of Pestfurlong Hill."

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The Beast of Bodmin is . . . Tony of Bolton!

2011-12-28T06:59:00.000Z

The Bolton News

9:33am Friday 16th December 2011 in News

DURING the working day Tony Lee trains people to stay safe — but in his spare time he roams the moors as a “terrifying”
beast.
For the 52-year-old is the official Beast of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.
Mr Lee got the “job” after he wrote to a group of Cornish businessmen who run a marketing group entitled The Best of Bodmin Moor.
They invited him to a meeting and he turned up in a tiger skin catsuit after being unable to secure the panther-style costume usually associated with the Beast of Bodmin Moor.
The father-of-two was presented with a contract, certificate and a plastic box of chocolate mice, and his life as the official Beast of Bodmin Moor began.
It is a world away from his job at Bolton firm Encompass, where he trains pub, hotel and restaurant staff in first aid techniques. Mr Lee works across the country and also organises fire marshal courses, how to handle and lift sessions, and food safety and hygiene courses.
Using his first name Michael, Mr Lee is also the author of three books of collections of outrageous letters. These range from inventive job applications, such as the Beast of Bodmin Moor, to requests for unusual and often non-existent posts or items, such as searching for a Freudian slip for his wife.
He said: “It all started when I became a minor celebrity on American TV and in the Spanish press when they picked up on a spoof letter I sent applying to be the mayor of El Paso.
“I had an idea I could write funny letters asking for silly jobs, get some replies and publish them in a book.”
He has applied to become the official Government scapegoat, asked how he could acquire a corporate ladder to help his career and written to Harry Ramsden’s complaining about the chip on his shoulder.
Other job applications have included to be the new hunchback of Notre Dame and The Man in the Moon.
He has appeared on This Morning TV programme with Philip Schofield and Fern Britton and on regional TV and radio.

ON THE PROWL Tony Lee, in his Beast of Bodmin Moor costume, roaming the moors above Bolton and, inset, with his book, Letters From A Professional Nuisance

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Beast of Merthyr? Latest British Big Cat Sighting

2011-12-28T06:57:00.000Z

Now Public

by Ben Steinmeier | December 6, 2011 at 12:30 pm

Panther-like beast sighted in densely-populated urban Wales
As odd as it sounds, experts have warned pet owners in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales to keep their pets inside due to the danger of a reported "panther-like creature" in the area. The warning came after a reported sighting of the big cat and is the latest of the British big cat sightings.

The sighting and other evidence
It all began when coach driver Robert Davis was coming come from work when he saw animal. As he described it:

He said: “I had just come off the roundabout, so I was only doing about 20mph when it just appeared in the middle of the road.“It was about 25 feet in front of me and ran straight into the light from my headlights.
“I used to own an Irish setter and it was definitely much bigger than that, black, with a long tail and a head a bit like a boxer dog. It bounded across from the central reservation in about three leaps.
“I had to do a double take, but there was no mistaking what it was.”

Later on Monday morning, staff of a retail park arrived to find "unusual damage" done on a bin and garbage strewn around the area.
British big cats
Despite the incredibility of the claim, there have been thousands of similar sighting reported throughout Britain since the 1950's, most reports claiming the same thing: a large black or tan feline. While photographic evidence has been brought forward, many of these photos have been hoaxes, been merely claimed as misidentification or do not have enough quality to prove anything.
While the average British citizen doesn't believe in these big cats, big cat expert Danny Nineham says this all changes when someone has a sighting.

“Until they see a big cat, most people don’t believe it,” he said. “But we’re not claiming it’s Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster or that aliens have invaded Wales – it is very real and very tangible.“We have got hundreds of these things, they are everywhere.”

While the South Wales Police have not confirmed the sighting, Police Wildlife Officer Matthew Howells gave the following information should one encounter it:

Do not approach the animal
Do not leave any food out for it
Report the sighting to the police and give as much information as possible: detailed description, where the sighting took place, direction it left, etc.

Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Beast of Merthyr? Latest British Big Cat Sighting | NowPublic News Coverage http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/beast-merthyr-latest-british-big-cat-sighting-2867564.html#ixzz1hoHrAZXt
Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Beast of Merthyr? Latest British Big Cat Sighting | NowPublic News Coverage http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/beast-merthyr-latest-british-big-cat-sighting-2867564.html#ixzz1hoHhUrzN

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Scotland in Denial over Big Cats on the Loose

2011-12-28T06:55:00.000Z

The Beast of Merthyr? Pet owners told to lock up animals after sighting of 'panther-like' creature

2011-12-28T06:53:00.000Z

by Clare Hutchinson, Western Mail

Dec 6 2011

THEY are the elusive shadows that stalk the countryside, feeding on sheep and terrorising rural communities – but a big cat now appears to have found its way to one of Wales’ most densely populated areas.
Experts warned pet owners in Merthyr Tydfil to lock up their animals after a “panther-like” creature was spotted prowling on the outskirts of the Valleys town.
Coach driver Robert Davies, of Hirwaun, was driving home from work when he claims he saw a large black cat “bounding” across the A470 near Merthyr.
The 61-year-old was turning off a roundabout near Cyfarthfa Retail Park at around 10.30pm on Saturday when he claims the animal ran across the road in front of him in the direction of Gellideg, Cyfarthfa.

He said: “I had just come off the roundabout, so I was only doing about 20mph when it just appeared in the middle of the road.
“It was about 25 feet in front of me and ran straight into the light from my headlights.
“I used to own an Irish setter and it was definitely much bigger than that, black, with a long tail and a head a bit like a boxer dog. It bounded across from the central reservation in about three leaps.
“I had to do a double take, but there was no mistaking what it was.”

Meanwhile staff at the nearby retail park reported arriving at work on Monday morning to find “unusual” damage to a bin on the site and rubbish strewn around the area.
A worker at the site, who did not want to be named, said: “It looks like something has got into the bin from the back and pulled rubbish out.
“It’s very unusual to see that and, to be honest, the cleaner was really quite surprised.”
Big cat expert Danny Nineham, who works as a consultant for UK police forces, said it was typical of many sightings.
“Until they see a big cat, most people don’t believe it,” he said. “But we’re not claiming it’s Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster or that aliens have invaded Wales – it is very real and very tangible.
“We have got hundreds of these things, they are everywhere.”
In 2006, Wales was placed fourth on a list of “big cat hotspots”, according to the British Big Cat Society, with hundreds of sightings reported across the country in the past decade.
According to Mr Nineham, who keeps a log of thousands of sightings reported to him every year, increasing numbers of big cats are being spotted in urban areas as the animals apparently follow prey, like foxes, into towns and cities.
He said while most big cats will instinctively hunt, many turn to scavenging, because it is easy pickings.
“When you have got these retail parks, a cat doesn’t know what it is, it only sees it as a potential source of food,” he said.
“This is absolutely typical of a big cat sighting, and I would advise people living locally to keep their pets indoors as much as possible, because pet attacks make up a lot of the incidents reported to us.
“As far as people themselves are concerned, there is really no need to worry.
“Big cats in the UK will very rarely, if ever, attack to kill because they have plenty of other food sources.
“If you are walking in the area and you come across the animal, just stand tall, look big and try and back away without taking your eyes off it, so you know where it is.”
A spokesman for South Wales Police was unable to confirm if the incident had been reported to the force.
But Dyfed-Powys Police Wildlife Officer Matthew Howells said: “Don’t approach the animal and don’t leave any food out for it as this could encourage it to come closer to your home.
“Report the sighting to the police and give them as much information as you can, such as a detailed description of the animal, where it was seen, how far away it was, and the direction it was travelling in,” he added.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/12/06/coach-driver-stopped-in-his-tracks-by-panther-like-big-cat-outside-shopping-park-91466-29901048/#ixzz1hoGkmuBI

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Macabre find raises questions on cats

2011-11-28T02:03:00.000Z

Published: 23/11/2011 12:30 - Updated: 23/11/2011 12:57
Graham Crawford

The dead animal photographed by Ian Thomson at the side of the Banff-Aberchirder road.

HERE is a set of teeth you would not want to encounter on a dark night.
They caught the eye of passing cyclist Ian Thomson on the Banff to Aberchirder road.
Now he is wondering whether the mysterious dead animal was a Scottish wildcat or one of the many 'large cats' reputed to be roaming the local area.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of this week's Banffshire Journal, on sale now.

Are there 'big cats' roaming near Mulberry's Somerset factory?

2011-11-28T02:00:00.000Z

Somerset Guardian
Saturday, November 26, 2011

A Midsomer Norton woman claims to have spotted two puma-like big cats close to the Mulberry factory in Chilcompton.
Rachel Davis said she saw two big cats running across the road when she was driving towards Wells to pick up her daughter.

Midsomer Norton resident Rachel Davis says she saw a black puma-like cat near the Mulberry factory

She said: "They were about the size of a labrador. At first I thought they were foxes but when they were lit by the street lights I noticed they were bigger, black and with the rounded nose shape of a cat. I think one was chasing the other."
Mrs Davis reported the sighting, which took place on Saturday, November 12, at about 9.45pm, to the Somerset Guardian in the hope that other readers would get in touch with any more sightings.
In recent years there have been numerous big cat sightings in the area. Anyone who thinks they have see a big cat can call the news desk on 01761 417778.
Mrs Davis also reported the sighting to Avon and Somerset police.

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Mark of the Calderdale catbeast?

2011-11-28T01:59:00.000Z

The Halifax Courier
Monday 28 November 2011

The 'panther' tracks found in a garden at Chevinedge Crescent, Exley

Published on Saturday 19 November 2011 11:45

Is this the paw print of the Calderdale catbeast?

That was the question today after another terrified witness told of coming face to face with a black, puma-like creature in her back garden.
Susan Rooke, 58, said she watched, shaking with fear, as the animal “scrabbled” in her garden at Chevinedge Crescent, Exley, Halifax, before leaping over her four-foot fence and fleeing into nearby woods.
But for the first time, the beast left behind a paw print and scratch marks – proof she wasn’t dreaming.
A still visibly shaken Mrs Rooke, 58, told the Courier she believes the animal was after her two cockerels kept at the egde of the garden.
“I heard this commotion from them outside as I was getting out of the shower but I couldn’t see anything from the bathroom window.
“So I ran down stairs out of the back door. One of my cockerels wasn’t there. Then I saw this big black thing. It just made to run, scratching at the ground, then jumped straight over the fence at the back.
“It looked like a black panther.
“It scared me. I was so frightened, I ran in and shut the door. My heart was in my mouth. I had never seen anything like that in my life, in all my years.”
Mrs Rooke found one of her cockerels on her front lawn - it had leapt over a fence to get away - and the other was cowering in the back of its hut.
She said: “Afterwards it hit me - it could’ve attacked me. It was huge. I would say about three foot wide and about three foot long. “It was quite agile. It just soared over my fence - like it an athlete - and it was away.
“We’ve lived here four years and I have heard about things like this and always laughed. But I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m scared to death.
“When I saw the claw marks I thought I wasn’t dreaming. I thought ‘My God, it really was here’.”
Her husband David, 64, added: “I have never seen my wife’s hands shaking like that. I could see the fear in her face.
“It’s got to be something to make claw marks like that. That’s not your domestic cat - even the biggest domestic cat. The marks are really deep.
“The public need to know that this is out there. It needs to be in people’s minds. If it is something dangerous then I hope to God it’s not going to attack any human being, or a child.”
The first physical evidence of a possible big cat in Calderdale was in 2005 when a farmer in Shibden discovered the ravaged remains of a sheep - which had had its stripped from its back legs.
There has been a string of sightings reported to the Courier this year in Lightcliffe, Ogden, Ainley Top, Queensbury and Boothtown.
The Courier sent these latest photos to Danny Bamping of the British Big Cats Society. He said it is difficult to confirm whether it is a big cat but combined with the witness sighting it is “quite convincing”.
He said: “Hearing about the sighting that goes with it, does make it all very intriguing. Combined with the other recent and historical sightings in the area, the evidence does seem to point in one direction.”
Calderdale police’s wildlife office special constable Phil Sanderson said the prints definitely look like a cat.
But added: “We aren’t saying there are no big cats in Calderdale but we haven’t had reports of domestic animals being attacked. Having said that, there are plenty of ordinary land game, like rabbits, to keep them going. But we can’t say yes or no until one is actually cornered.
“If there are big cats then the public haven’t anything to fear in as much as at the moment they seem quite happy to eat the land game.”
He added if anyone comes into contact with the cat to ring police immediately.

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Big cat sighting near Forres

2011-11-28T01:57:00.000Z

Published: 15/11/2011 16:38 - Updated: 15/11/2011 16:48

Big cat sighting near Forres

Tanya McLaren

A FORRES woman got the shock of her life after spotting a large black cat bounding down the side of a field as she was passing in her car.

A Forres woman goes back to the spot where she saw a large black cat

Alannah Reaper was on the way back from tending to her horses when she spied the creature, as she was driving past a large open field, just before 5pm last Wednesday night.
She was driving about half a mile as the crow flies from the village of Dyke, heading in the direction of A96, approaching the old A96 road.
“We got to the last farm at the Banrach,” she said. “I had to pull over to let a car and tractor pass, and while we were sitting in the car waiting for the on coming traffic to pass, next to a large stubble field on my left, I clocked the cat at the side, trotting briskly up the field heading in the direction behind me.”
She said the creature went the last few yards and then “bounded” towards the woodlands.
“It was clearly visible thanks to the full moon,” she said. “As I was watching it go across the field, I tried to turn the car to shine my headlights on the field to make it more visible for my mum to see, who was sitting in the passenger side, unfortunately it was long gone.”
Alannah said that it was the size of good sized dog, but a lot longer and had a distinctive movement not like any dog or deer, and far bigger than the domestic cat.
Her sighting is about a mile from where local woman, Jan Munro from Knockomie Rise saw the creature with her friend, Jo Greenwood about two years ago.
Full story in this weeks edition..
Have you seen the cat? Email newdesk@forres-gazette.co.uk.

40 big cat sightings reported in Cumbria

2011-11-28T01:55:00.002Z

News & Star

News

40 big cat sightings reported in Cumbria

By Matthew Legg

Last updated at 13:44, Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Police have received 40 reports of big cats roaming the Cumbrian countryside since 2003.

On the prowl: Big cat sightings have been reported across Cumbria to police over the years, including one of a lion in a field

But no evidence has ever been found to back up any of the claims.
The majority refer to big black panther-type creatures or lynxes.
One sighting of a “large black cat” dead beside the M6 was found to be an otter.
And after investigating a report of “big black cat” at Troutbeck Bridge, near Windermere, officers concluded it was probably a badger.
Cumbria Police has thrown open its files on big cat sightings after a request by the News & Star under Freedom of Information rules.
They include:
A “black panther” on the fells at Garrigill, near Alston in 2003.
A “very large cat” at Bewcastle in 2003.
A “large puma-type black cat” near the River Eden at Linstock, Carlisle. in 2003.
A “big cat” which looked like a lynx on the lane leading to Silloth Golf Club in 2003.
A “large wild cat” near the A596 at Wigton in 2003.
A “black panther” near a football pitch on the Great Broughton to Dearham road in 2004.
A “2ft high puma” at Tirril, Penrith, in 2005.
A “lynx” next to the A591 at Applethwaite, near Keswick, in 2005.
A “panther” at Derwentwater, Keswick, in 2006.
A “large black cat” in fields above Townfoot Park, Brampton, in 2007.
A “large black cat” at Port Road business park, Carlisle, in 2009.
A “large black panther cat” at Eastern Way, Carlisle, in 2010.
In 2003, a lion was spotted in a field opposite South Lakes Wild Animal Park at Dalton-in-Furness, near Barrow.
However, officers sent to the scene found no evidence of the animal being there.
Checks at the zoo found that all of its lions were accounted for.
MLegg@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:23, Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

Horncastle Wolds panther sighting?

2011-11-28T01:54:00.002Z

Horncastle Wolds panther sighting?

Published on Monday 14 November 2011 17:36

THE mystery of the illusive Wolds panther resurfaced on Sunday morning when a large black cat was spotted in Horncastle.

A visitor to the town saw the creature take a leisurely stroll across the Manor House paddock towards the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust headquarters at Banovallum House.
The visitor, who is a qualified dog groomer and partner in a pet food company, said: “It was black, the size of a medium sized dog, say 60cm high.
“The walk and its long tail left me in no doubt that it was a big cat, possibly a puma.
“It certainly couldn’t have been a domestic cat or a dog”

'Big cat' seen by cyclist in country lane

2011-11-28T01:53:00.002Z

Saturday, November 12, 2011
The Tamworth Herald

THE MYSTERIOUS big cat which has baffled experts despite being spotted by scores of Herald readers, has been spied again – this time in a country lane.
The latest sighting was made by train driver Jake Medley.
Jake was cycling home from work close to midnight on Monday, October 31 and was in the Shuttington area when he claims the big black cat ran across the road in front of him.
Jake said: “I was between Shuttington village and Hangman’s Corner crossroads when a large black cat the size of a dog ran across my light beam.
“I didn’t see its face, but it was most definitely not a dog!
“I was wondering if anyone else has had a sighting in and around the area?”
In recent years, the Herald has published details of over 50 sightings of a ‘big cat’ in the area – most of which fitted the description of a melanistic leopard (black with black spots).
But it has been almost a year since the last reported sighting of the creature in the area.
Most sightings of all occurred in July 2009, when around a dozen people claimed to have spotted it near Tamworth.
Government experts say that they have no firm evidence of big cats living in the wild.
But they have admitted that they could not say that there were none, and that big cats could survive quite easily in the British countryside.

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.

Panther on the prowl on Lewis?!

2011-11-11T04:12:00.002Z

The Stornaway Gazette
Published on Thursday 10 November 2011 14:16

WE have all heard of the Beast of Bodmin moor, and perhaps the islands has its own fang and claw wildlife, as this week a Gazette reader claimed to have spotted what looked like a panther on the west side of Lewis.

The man said the creature had been seen by several other people and attempted to attack sheep and a collie dog.
The chap, who did not want to be named - and has not reported the sighting to the police - was adamant he could not have been mistaken.
However Scottish Natural Heritage said this week that they had not had any reports of panthers in the wild on Lewis, yet they did reveal that this is not the first report of a big cat in the islands, with an alleged sighting in the Pairc area several years ago - that report turned out to be a photo of a large domestic cat.
The existence of big cats in the UK has been attributed to the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in the 1970s, which meant they could no longer legally be kept as pets. Sightings are regularly reported to police across Scotland.
So if you go over to Carloway today you could be in for a Big Surprise!

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