Wednesday, August 07, 2013
HAVE you seen the beast of the Bay? Or a big cat at Brogdale?
Leopards, pumas and lynx are among the beasts rumoured to have been spotted roaming in East Kent this year.
In the latest of a string of big cat sightings in the area, a lorry driver reported glimpsing a "huge black cat" bounding across the road near Herne Common.
It happened at around 5.30am on Thursday, August 1.
The witness, known only as Mr Collins, explained: "When you
first see something like this you know that people are going to laugh at
you - but I don't care, it was a panther and not a dog or fox. The tail
alone was the length of a domestic cat. It was gone in a second, and it
was about 20 feet away."
The sightings were reported to Kent Big Cat Research which monitors big cat activity in Britain.
Founder Neil Arnold receives around 30 reports a year of sightings in the Canterbury, Herne Bay and Faversham areas and is convinced there are a number of the predators living wild in the district.
He said the scent from local zoos could be one reason they were attracted to the Canterbury area.
Mr Arnold said: "It's been suggested in the past that cats such as black leopard, puma and lynx were kept commonly as pets in the 1960s and 1970s, and many of these were released after the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, but this doesn't explain reports from Kent dating back several centuries, to a time when such animals may have been kept in menageries.
"Even so, the occasional escapee doesn't explain as to why every county in England, plus the wilds of Scotland and valleys of Wales have such sightings attached to them. There's always been scepticism regarding the possibility of big cats because, rather sadly, a lot of people read major tabloids and laugh at such reports." He claims to have collected evidence including paw prints, samples of whiskers and fur, as well as sheep and deer kills deemed to be the work of large predators.
Other sightings include one at Brogdale in Faversham three weeks ago, when a walker saw a large black cat the "size of an Alsatian" one evening. This year there have also been sightings of a black leopard in Bysing Wood, Blean Wood and Selling, a puma at Ospringe and a lynx in Oare marshes.
To report a big cat sighting in Kent, call 07851 602853 or visit www.kentbigcats.blogspot.com
*Have you seen the Beast of the Bay? Or a big cat elsewhere? Tell us about it by emailing newsdesk.times@KRNmedia.co.uk
source
Leopards, pumas and lynx are among the beasts rumoured to have been spotted roaming in East Kent this year.
In the latest of a string of big cat sightings in the area, a lorry driver reported glimpsing a "huge black cat" bounding across the road near Herne Common.
It happened at around 5.30am on Thursday, August 1.
The sightings were reported to Kent Big Cat Research which monitors big cat activity in Britain.
Founder Neil Arnold receives around 30 reports a year of sightings in the Canterbury, Herne Bay and Faversham areas and is convinced there are a number of the predators living wild in the district.
He said the scent from local zoos could be one reason they were attracted to the Canterbury area.
Mr Arnold said: "It's been suggested in the past that cats such as black leopard, puma and lynx were kept commonly as pets in the 1960s and 1970s, and many of these were released after the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, but this doesn't explain reports from Kent dating back several centuries, to a time when such animals may have been kept in menageries.
"Even so, the occasional escapee doesn't explain as to why every county in England, plus the wilds of Scotland and valleys of Wales have such sightings attached to them. There's always been scepticism regarding the possibility of big cats because, rather sadly, a lot of people read major tabloids and laugh at such reports." He claims to have collected evidence including paw prints, samples of whiskers and fur, as well as sheep and deer kills deemed to be the work of large predators.
Other sightings include one at Brogdale in Faversham three weeks ago, when a walker saw a large black cat the "size of an Alsatian" one evening. This year there have also been sightings of a black leopard in Bysing Wood, Blean Wood and Selling, a puma at Ospringe and a lynx in Oare marshes.
To report a big cat sighting in Kent, call 07851 602853 or visit www.kentbigcats.blogspot.com
*Have you seen the Beast of the Bay? Or a big cat elsewhere? Tell us about it by emailing newsdesk.times@KRNmedia.co.uk
source
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