Have I photographed a panther or giant moggy?

Monday, August 26, 2013

Derby Telegraph

By Martin Naylor

A MAN has snapped these pictures of what could be a big cat up to two metres long near the garden centre where he works. Lewis Edwards spotted the "panther-like" animal in a field next to Derby Garden Centre, in Little Eaton.

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   Lewis Edwards and the photograph of a large black cat on his mobile phone and, inset, a close-up of the animal as it stretches itself on a tree near the garden centre.
   
   
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   Lewis Edwards next to the tree the cat climbed and, right, another shot of the animal as it walked through a field.
   
   
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"It looked like a panther and must have been one to two metres long. It didn't seem bothered by anything, although there weren't a lot of people around. It just wandered up to a tree, got on to its hind legs and put its paws on there to stretch. Then it walked off and back into the bushes. It just kept itself to itself."

Mr Edwards, who lives in the Five Lamps area of Derby, has worked at the Alfreton Road centre for 18 months. He took the pictures at about 11.30am last Monday. The teenager said it was the first time he had spotted a big cat at the garden centre.

But he claims to have seen one in Derbyshire before. He said: "When I was younger, I was walking my dog in a field on the outskirts of Derby when I saw a massive black cat. I remember my dog going mad and barking at it until it ran away. The one I saw this week was similar but a bit bigger."
Big Cats In Britain, a group founded to look into their existence, said there had been a number of sightings in Derbyshire over recent years.

There were dozens of sightings of the Beast of Carsington – so called because the first one was in the village – in the 1990s. Sue Pocock, from Big Cats In Britain, was sent Mr Edwards' photographs. Mrs Pocock, 47, of Swadlincote, said: "Opinions within the group are that the pictures look promising, but I would have to get a few more details and go out and take some measurements. "We can't say if it's a big cat or a hoax but, judging by what we have been given, it warrants further investigation."

In February 2011, police were called to investigate reports that a puma was spotted near a paddock in Valley Road, Overseal. A woman told officers she was tending to horses when she saw a big black cat skulk on to the paddock and sit on a water pipe.

Four sightings of big cats were reported to Derbyshire police in 2010. The sightings were made in Mickleover, Littleover, Nether Heage and Overseal.

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