‘500 big cats’ could be living in countryside
RAU lecturer thinks most animal sightings are credible,
MORE than 500 large cats could be living in the British countryside. That is the verdict of a Cirencester lecturer, who said he thinks 80 per cent of the reports he receives about black leopard or puma sightings are credible.
Dr Andrew Hemmings is based at the Royal Agricultural University, just a few miles from where a large cat was reportedly spotted near the Cotswold Water Park recently.
He told The Times he believes there are hundreds of large predatory cats in the wild and that he has identified animal carcasses with bite marks made by large felines such as pumas or panthers.
Dr Hemmings also said that five of his colleagues at the university have reported seeing a big cat, although it is not known if they saw them in Gloucestershire.
Over the years there have been many photographs taken of what could possibly be big cats in the British countryside.
He told The Times: “It’s really no surprise to me any more that these things are out there, it’s just a search for the documentary, empirical and objective evidence.”
In Gloucestershire there have been frequent sightings, including in Stroud, the Cotswolds, the Forest of Dean and even on Robinswood Hill.
Earlier in the summer Joshua Odom, 26, from Arle Avenue, Cheltenham, saw what appeared to be a large cat in a field in the village of Barnsley, near Cirencester.
He said: “We stopped the car and watched it for about three to four minutes. It was definitely a big cat. It was massive, with a long tail. It wasn’t a dog.”
Earlier this year we mapped all the big cat sightings in the county and found they tend to be in more rural areas, which would be expected, but also that there seemed to be a concentration of sightings around Stroud.
There have also been reports from Gloucester, Newent, and Cirencester.
There were 455 sightings of suspected big cats between 2010 and 2015 in the UK. Throughout the UK, Norfolk has had the most reported sightings, with a total of 57 reports.
It’s really no surprise to me any more that these things are out there, it’s just a search for the evidence
Dr Andrew Hemmings