The mysterious paw print left in the mud (with 20p piece showing scale of it) off Sussex Road, Petersfield
COULD a big cat be roaming the countryside around Petersfield?
That’s the question being asked after a rambler said he
saw a large cat disappear through a hedge across a meadow near Sussex
Road.
John Bailey, who lives in Portsmouth, paused to snap a
pugmark left by the grey and black feline before hurrying out of the
fields.
The pensioner said: ‘I was a short way along a footpath
from Sussex Road to Buriton when it came out of grass about two feet
high, and went through a hedge near a stream, where it left a paw print
in mud.
‘I first thought “did I really see that?” then I got bit worried because it looked to be about knee high, so I came back.’
Although
his picture does not offer irrefutable proof, experts do not doubt he
saw a wild cat much bigger than a household tabby.
Jonathan
McGowan, a big cat expert, said: ‘Cats put their claws out in mud to
steady themselves, and these are cat-like. There have been sightings
across the south recently and this is country one could live in with
cover, water and food.’
He added only breeds that ‘roar’ such as
leopards and panthers should be called big cats, but due to cross
breeding there are now wild cats far bigger than pet cats. Between 1999
and 2008, there were 80 sightings in Hampshire.
John Searle, from Petersfield, and his
dog Herbie. He believes he saw a big cat on the prowl on Petersfield
Heath while he was walking his dog
A DOG WALKER has spoken of his
spine-tingling encounter with what he believes was a big cat – sparking
further speculation that a feline beast may be roaming the countryside.
John Searle, a retired engineer, believes he saw a
large, black cat – about the size of a German Shepherd dog – in the
undergrowth of Petersfield Heath.
Mr Searle was walking his dog Herbie shortly before 8am on Sunday on the heath, which had no other walkers on it at the time.
Mr Searle dismissed the sighting as impossible, but called The News yesterday after seeing a picture of a paw print taken by a rambler in fields off Sussex Road, Petersfield.
As reported, John Bailey, from Portsmouth, believes he saw a grey and black feline disappear through a hedge.
Mr Searle, 59, of Cranford Road, Petersfield, said he went to investigate when he saw rustling in bushes.
He said: ‘I saw what I think is the back end of a black cat – its hind legs and a tail.
‘It was about 2ft high from what I saw. Its tail was quite long.
‘Herbie
went to have a look in the bushes with his nose to the ground. He
smelled or saw something and it must have frightened him because he came
running back to me. I thought I was seeing things – I had to rub my
eyes.’
Mr Searle said he did not hear growling, but said it did not move like a dog and was no tabby.
‘If it had been a normal cat, Herbie would have been after it,’ he said.
Big
cat encounters are not unheard of in south-east Hampshire. The ‘Beast
of Hayling’ – a swamp cat that roamed the island for years – went on
display at Havant museum after being hit by a car in 1988.
Expert
Jonathan McGowan, a member of Big Cats In Britain Research Group,
believes the paw print in the picture is from a big cat.
Danny
Bamping, of the British Big Cat Society, added: ‘I don’t doubt he saw a
big cat. Reports across the south have been increasing.’
The first sightings came after laws in 1976 banned keeping uncaged big cats as pets.
CAT FAN: Simon Townsend with a friend at the Twilight Muster at the National Wool Museum. PHOTO: PETER BEGG
THE best piece of evidence towards proving the existence of big cats in
the Otways is a piece of scat that was conclusively shown by DNA testing
to have come from a leopard.
The scat was discovered in the eastern Otways near Wensleydale, and
long-term big cat researcher Simon Townsend said he was 100 per cent
satisfied the evidence was authentic.
Nevertheless, Mr Townsend
conceded the whole question of whether there were big cats in the Otways
would only ever be settled with the discovery of an animal - alive or
not.
He spoke of his own sighting of a big cat in 1973 at Warburton.
"This
particular animal was big glossy black, and it had the most malevolent
look in its eyes that I have ever seen in an animal," Mr Townsend said.
He
was speaking at the National Wool Museum, which is holding a series of
lecture evenings on stimulating subjects called Twilight Musters.
The first, in July, was on the Cats, as in the football club, and the most recent one was on big cats.
As
a nice adjunct to the big cat lecture, the drinks on the night were
supplied by Otway Estate Wines of Barongarook. The winery also has a
boutique brewery, and its feature beer on the night was Black Panther.
Winery co-owner Luke Scott said Black Panther was one of its seasonal beers.
"We named it after the famous black panther in the Otways," he said. "It's a black beer and a bit of a play on the myth."
Mr
Townsend agreed with the comparison of the evenings to the role played
in every town and city in colonial times by the local mechanics
institute, where lectures on various subjects were held every week.
"What
these are doing is bringing intellectual discourse back to the people -
it's not a dumbing-down of everything, it's the reverse," he said.
Apart from looking for big cat evidence, Mr Townsend has been actively involved in exposing big cat hoaxes over the years.
He spoke of one 15 years ago when someone set up a dummy panther and took photos of it.
"He
took photos not just from one angle but from all angles to the extent
that the panther either liked being photographed or was dead," he said.
Mr
Townsend said news of big cat sightings was always welcome, but he was a
lot more interested at the moment in collecting data about stock
killings.
He said the kills were sent to Canberra University for DNA identification.
"We
have submitted 22 samples in the past 12 months but so far we have been
unable to get anything back other than secondary predation," Mr
Townsend said.
"There is no proof yet."
THE next Twilight
Muster will be held at the National Wool Museum on Thursday, September
19, from 6.30-9.30pm, entitled: They Left Nothing but Footprints.
Barry
Abley will talk about the early Portuguese presence in eastern
Australia. Dr Bob Marmion will later discuss whether the Japanese landed
at Queenscliff in 1942.
CAT FAN: Simon Townsend with a friend at the Twilight Muster at the National Wool Museum. PHOTO: PETER BEGG
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