Could this be proof of big cats in Gloucestershire?

By Ben_Falconer  |  Posted: December 19, 2013

Could this be proof of big cats in Gloucestershire?

COULD this be another step on a big cat tracker’s quest to prove their existence in Gloucestershire?
Frank Tunbridge believes the footage he has captured shows a large, black cat prowling a field at night. “In my mind there is nothing else it could be,” said Mr Tunbridge, who has received 64 reports of bigs cats in Gloucestershire in 2013. “I put the camera up at that site after about four to six residents said they had seen it. “It took about a week to get it. I know the footage is short but it’s long in the body and the size of it suggests it is a cat.”

He placed the cameras there after it was spotted prowling through fields in Winchcombe in April 2012.
Residents who tried to get close were snarled at, near Mount View Drive. A black figure appears near the bottom left hand corner of the screen near the start of the footage. Mr Tunbridge has day time footage of what is believed to be a fox, taken by the same camera, to show the area in context. Resident Keith Baker said he saw it at least 10 times, and giant paw prints dotted the fields. Mother-of-three Carrie Short, said “there is no way” it is a domestic cat, believing it to be a panther.

Mr Tunbridge, from Podsmead, Gloucester, has cameras set up all over the county at sighting hot spots. He knows that short of a carcass or live specimen being caught, conclusive video footage will go along way to convincing the public that they exist.

Stroud teaching assistant Coryn Memory used his camera to get film of what appeared to be a black cat bounding around in fields near her home, revealed almost two years ago. However Professor Stephen Harris, of the School of Biological Sciences’ Mammal Research Unit at Bristol University said it was more likely to be a large domestic cat.

University of Warwick tests to find big cat DNA on deer carcasses discovered near Woodchester Park and Dursley only found traces of fox and deer, almost two years ago. “I accept this footage is not conclusive but what else could it be?” said Mr Tunbridge. “All the evidence, to me, points to it being a big cat.”

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