Big Cat Sighting Kent: black leopard spotted in Kingsnorth, Kent

A couple have spoken of their shock at seeing a black leopard running across a field at Kingsnorth.

Eugene and Karina Rivers, of Hadleigh Street, Kingsnorth, saw the animal while walking their three-month-old Welsh terrier puppy Jasmine off Cheesemans Green Lane at 9.30pm on Sunday, May 29.

Mother-of-three Mrs Rivers said: “When we got to the railway line I saw in the distance what I thought was a dog.

"It came right across the horizon but we couldn’t see an owner. This thing was travelling so fast I could hardly keep my eyes on it.

"It got to the opposite corner from us, it did the whole length of the field in less than 10 seconds.

“It ran differently from a dog, putting its front two legs forward first and then its back legs followed.

"Then I said 'Oh my God, that’s not a dog’. We grabbed Jasmine and huddled in the bushes and just watched.”

The 31-year-old nurse continued: “It was definitely a cat but it was huge and black and the way it moved was not the way a normal domestic animal moves.

"Then as quick as we had seen it, it got to the edge of the field and disappeared.

"I was quite shocked to be honest. We were both a bit unnerved by it."

Auto-electrician Mr Rivers, 44, said: “We were both a bit shocked really to see that so close to such a built up area.

"It was quite hard to rationalise it in your head. You think it couldn’t be real and you tell yourself it’s not real but it wasn’t a dog. It was just very strange.”

Mrs Rivers added: “I’ve told a few people where I work about it and they looked at me like I was a loon but we know what we saw and how we felt.”

After walking home, they looked on the internet and reported it to Neil Arnold of Kent Big Cat Research, who collects data of exotic animal sightings in the county.

Mr Arnold received a second report of a big cat, which he believes could be the same animal, in the Kingsnorth area the day before.

An eight-year-old boy spotted a large animal in long grass spying on a domestic cat and ran to tell his father.

“The animal was described as a metre tall on its haunches and had yellow eyes which would fit the description of a black leopard,” said Mr Arnold.

“Ashford is such a vast area. There’s so much forest and a lot of cover which runs down to Romney Marsh, where I’ve found a lot of signs of a black leopard.

“I think there’s at least three or four between Ashford, Maidstone and Romeny Marsh.

"There are reports going back to the sixties so it’s certainly a viable breeding area.

“I’ve done quite a few talks in Ashford recently. It’s amazing the number of people who come up and see me afterwards to say they’ve seen one.

“Sadly, sceptics still argue these animals do not exist even though hair and faeces have been analysed and proven to belong to large cat species, sheep and deer have been found dragged high up into trees and eaten.”

Source: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011-1/june/7/oh_my_god,_that%E2%80%99s_not_a_dog%E2%80%99.aspx

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Big Cat Sightings: Another Puma Sighting in Scotland

By  Matt Meade

A PARS legend is the latest West Fifer claiming to have seen a big black cat.

Alex Edwards (pictured), who made 346 appearances for Dunfermline Athletic from 1962-71, said he saw a large feline, possibly a puma, while out walking his daughter's dog recently in Cairneyhill.

And the 1968 Scottish Cup winner told the Press, "I know what I saw."

Mr Edwards, of Hilton Road, was walking at Forrester Park Golf Club, Pitdinnie Road, at around 7.30am last week when he spotted the animal about 100 yards away through binoculars.

He said, "At first I thought it was a dog but not the way it was walking.

"I thought it was maybe one of (landowner) Bobby Forrester's big black poodles.

"It was just walking along before disappearing into long crops."

When asked what he had thought about previous reports in the Press of similar sightings he added, "I never believed them. I thought these guys were crackers.

"But it's been spotted a few times in Cairneyhill, I've heard.

"I saw something that wasn't a dog but a large cat bigger than a Labrador."

He waited around 20 minutes to see if the animal would reappear but caught no other sight of it. He called Mr Forrester to tell him about his experience. The landowner confirmed he had received the phone call.

Mr Edwards laughed, "He said the cows will kick it. He said he wasn't worried about his young calves because he has large dogs."

The sighting follows another recent report where a large cat was said to have been spotted by two witnesses in a housing estate in Lochore.

Bob Wallace, West Fife representative for Big Cats in Britain, said, "The Lochore sighting is one I can't understand - why it would be in a housing estate I don't know.

"The Cairneyhill sighting seems a lot more feasible."

He said there were fewer sightings in Devilla Forest, near Kincardine, due to noisy building works taking place there which may have scared any large cat away.

He also said a recent sighting at Pitreavie running track, reported in last week's Press, "surprised" him.

The Press received a call from David Laing, a coach at Pitreavie AAC, who said he believed that sighting was simply of a large black domestic cat that had been spotted regularly around the club.

Source: http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/search/mattmeade/

Big Cat Sightings: 30 big cat sightings reported to Durham Police over past 11 years

By Duncan Leatherdale


MORE than 30 big cat sightings have been reported to police in County Durham in the past 11 years but officers in many cases said they could find no evidence of the mysterious moggies.

The large felines, often likened to pumas, panthers or jaguars, have been spotted around the county, from Stanley and Chester-le-Street to Darlington and Teesdale.

A Freedom of Information request to Durham Constabulary has revealed 33 sightings have been reported to police since the beginning of 2000, although several were categorised as hoax calls.

In September 2002 police went to Maiden Law near Durham where they found a disembowelled horse, with the owner fearing it had been attacked by a large cat.

Upon investigation however officers concluded that he horse had injured itself on a broken wooden fence nearby.

Police were also called to several other animal mutilations, including the carcasses of three sheep near Barnard Castle on December 30 last year.

The caller said the sheep had been "eaten rather than butchered" and that all that remained were their fleeces.

On October 4 last year officers also found a sheep with its front legs and half of its neck missing but on neither occasion did they find evidence to say a large cat was responsible.

In April 2006 a sheep near Durham survived having its sides lacerated, large cat like footprints were found in the mud around it. The latest sighting was in a wood in Durham in January when a dog walker reported seeing a "possible puma" at about 7pm.

Sightings have also been reported from Peterlee, Sedgefield, Ebchester, and Crook with four sightings made around Bishop Auckland between April 2004 and September 2005 and seven around Durham City since 2001.

Often the animal is compared in size to a large dog, ranging from Alsations and Labradors up to a Great Dane.

Meanwhile in Yorkshire the carcasses of two sheep, stripped to the bone, were discovered in a field near Kirby Hill, Richmond, causing speculation that a wild big cat, dubbed the Durham Puma, was prowling around Weardale and the Yorkshire Dales.

A police spokesman said big cats sightings are rare.

He said: "Reports of sightings are followed up as appropriate, but over the years no firm evidence has ever been found to suggest a panther or similar big cat has been living wild in County Durham."

Source:http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9048539.30_big_cat_sightings_reported_to_Durham_Police_over_past_11_years/?ref=rss

Big Cat Sighting: Is it really a 'Big Cat'?

by Charles McGuinness




Taken inNorthamptonshire

'Tiger Sighting' in Hampshire: Armed Police and Helicopter move in

A stuffed toy animal led to a large-scale police operation in Hampshire and stopped play at the Rose Bowl cricket ground.

The alarm was first raised by a concerned member of the public who believed there was an escaped white tiger hiding in a field near Hedge End.

Officers were sent to the scene along with a helicopter and thermal imaging cameras, at about 1600 BST on Saturday.

When no body heat was detected police moved in and found a cuddly toy tiger.

A police spokeswoman said officers had responded as if it was a real incident, close to junction seven of the M27.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We sent some local officers and they confirmed they were looking at it and it was was looking at them”

Hampshire police

Contingency plans were even put in place to close the motorway, but that proved unnecessary.

Police enlisted the help from animal experts at nearby Marwell Zoo, who offered advice and were prepared to send a team with tranquiliser darts to overcome the tiger.

The Rose Bowl said a game between South Wiltshire and Hampshire Academy was stopped for about 20 minutes before they were given the all clear to continue.

Golfers at a nearby golf course were also told to go indoors.

A police spokeswoman said: "After a brief stalk through the Hedge End savannah, the officer realised the tiger was not moving and the air support using their cameras realised there was a lack of heat source.

"The tiger then rolled over in the down draft and it was at that point it became obvious it was a stuffed life-size toy.

"This incident will definitely be the highlight of our day. The CCTV footage convinced us all we were dealing with a real tiger.

"It's not often an incident leaves our staff with a smile on their face and it just goes to show the diverse type of incident we are called to deal with."

Reference: BBC Hampshire

Lynx Spotted in Yorkshire! Bradford Council launches investigation after big cat sighting in Shipley

A sighting of a lynx has been reported in Shipley 

Bradford Council is investigating a reported sighting of a “three-foot lynx” cat near the River Aire in Shipley.

A woman dog walker from Bingley spotted what she was convinced was a big cat dash out of woodland – chasing a deer – near Nab Wood.

Former RSPCA officer Pam Laking said the woman, who did not want to be named, had reported the sighting to vets and Bradford Council’s countryside service.

Bob Thorp, the Council’s trees and woodlands manager, said Lynx are not native to Britain, but it was “not impossible” that a lynx could have escaped from someone who had imported it as a pet.

Mrs Laking, who is chairman of the Friends of St Ives group in Bingley, said: “I can totally believe it. Everybody is ringing everybody else saying ‘be careful’ when they are walking their dogs.”

Mr Thorp said: “It is unlikely that a lynx cat is living in Hirst Wood as we have not had any other reported sightings, but then again it is not impossible as it could have escaped from someone who had imported it.”

Link:http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/9040843._I_saw_lynx_run_from_woodland_/