Big Cats in the Cotswolds

The very first blog on the Ancient Art of Enchanting the Landscape back in September 2008 was Big Cats Sightings in Staffordshire following a spate of reported sightings featured in the local newspaper the Stafford Post. The big cat sightings started in the summer of 2008 and suddenly stopped at the end of the year. There were no reports of the mysterious beast being captured or a body found, it was assumed the predator had moved on. In July 2010 a huge black cat was reported in Burntwood, near Cannock. Was this the so called 'Chase Panther' said to haunt this area with sightings still being reported in spring 2011?

Big cat sightings in the Staffordshire Moorlands have persisted since 2006, including a report from Rudyard Lake, near Leek in 2008. The Roaches, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, has been host to sightings of foreign animals in recent years after escaping from the private zoo of Courtney Brocklehurst. Sightings of wallabies at the Roaches have been reported as recently as August 2011, providing evidence that foreign creatures can survive in the remote areas of Britain. [1]

There have been thousands of reported sightings of big cats across the moors and woodlands of the UK since 2000. The animals, usually described as black or dark brown, have been seen in almost every county in Britain, from Cornwall to the tip of Scotland. Sightings of big cats in the UK countryside are usually blamed on the Dangerous and Wild Animals Act 1976 which prohibited the keeping of wild animals as pets. Rather than obtain a licence or turn their pets over to zoos or wildlife parks it is thought many private owners released their animals into the wild. In what can only be described as a well thought out masterpiece of British legislation releasing dangerous animals into the wild wasn't actually made illegal until the 1981 Countryside Act. It is thought that a big cat like a puma could survive in the British countryside for up to 10-12 years. As they are usually isolated occurrences it is considered unlikely they would breed and survive in family groups beyond that.

Yet, despite many claimed sightings of the big cats in Staffordshire, no-one has ever caught one of the beasts, or taken totally definitive photographic evidence - most film footage is usually very blurred. There are no reports of ‘lost’ big cats from collections, or having had one escape. Evidence in most cases is based on eye-witness accounts, but, like many UFO sightings, it is claimed that nearly 90% of big cat sightings can usually be explained satisfactorily. Alarmingly, 10% can be considered genuine sightings!

Staffordshire's Cannock Chase is home to sightings of many strange creatures; as recently as January 2010 an enormous  'wolf-like' animal was seen to stand and stare at a local woman out walking her dog before it turned and disappeared in to the woods. In a survey of the supernatural, of 21 werewolf sightings reported over the last thirty years, all but one have been on Cannock Chase. Staffordshire certainly seems popular with big cats and paranormal creatures. However, big cats in the wild should not be dismissed as a paranormal apparition like phantom Black Dogs for example. The evidence indicates these big cats are physical creatures. And it is not just Staffordshire that attracts big cat sightings.

Big Cat kill in the Cotswolds

Evidence of a big cat kill has recently been reported in Gloucestershire. [2]  A local walker sent photographs of a roe deer carcass found near the village of Dursley to experts last week after noticing particular features on the deer suggesed it could have been a big cat kill, bearing the classic hallmark injuries to the neck, the plucking of fur and the removal of internal organs. 

Then a second roe deer carcass was found less than two miles from the first in the National Trust’s historic Woodchester Country Park, near Stroud. [3] The Trust are taking the kills seriously and have called in experts from the University of Warwick to take DNA samples from the two carcasses. 

David Armstrong, the National Trust's head ranger for the Gloucestershire countryside, said the deer carcass was found near an area of beech woodland sloping down to pastures. Mr  Armstrong 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," He added, "we'd be interested to hear of any more sightings at Woodchester."

Locals have reported big cat sightings and suspicious kills in the area for 25 years but they seem to have been disregarded as no more than rumours. Frank Tunbridge, who has been tracking big cats in the Cotswolds for decades, said he received a call from a woman who recently saw a black panther-like creature near the Ram Inn, South Woodchester. Mr Tunbridge said she believed it could have been a black cat, and it was about the size of an Alsatian dog.

Of the recent deer kills Mr Tunbridge said, "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".

The episode is reminiscent of the kill at  Norton Bridge, near Eccleshall, in August 2008, during the Staffordshire flap of big cat sightings. Norton Bridge resident Katie Hill found the remains of one of her pet sheep decapitated and half eaten. Whatever was responsible for the attack had scaled a 6 foot fence before pouncing on the fully grown animal. Local wildlife rescuer Alf Hardy confirmed that the kill was that of a big cat. Neil Arnold of Kent Big Cat Research verified the kill as that of a big cat.

In January 2009 Forestry workers conducting deer surveys in the nearby Forest of Dean captured big cats on night vision gear, claiming they got within 50 yards of the creatures as the first was seen crossing a road near Lydney and the second lurking among trees at Staple Edge.

Samples from the recent Gloucestershire deer kills have been taken by Dr Robin Allaby, associate professor of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, who said he was “prepared to believe” that the creature that killed the deer was a big cat. The results are due by the end of the month.

Notes:

1. The Roaches website 

2. Will DNA solve Gloucestershire big cat Mystery - The Independent, 12 Jan 2012.

3. Second dead deer found - The Guardian, 16 Jan 2012

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