Beasts on the prowl

Mar 19 2006

THEY have become known as the Shrews-bury Panther, the Beast of Burford and the Tamworth Tiger.

A startling 365 big cats have been spotted in fields, forests and even disused railway lines across the Midlands in the last 15 months.

Experts believe the prowling animals could be pumas, panthers or even lynxes - freed by their owners when it became illegal to keep them in the 1970s.

And Danny Bamping, founder of the British Big Cat Society, says the Midlands is the country's hotspot for big cat sightings.

"It is an area of such high activity because there's a lot of countryside for these animals to live in," he said.

"You must remember, however, that these cats can cover up to 18 to 25 miles a night, so many of the sightings may be of the same animal.

"I think the West Midlands is the gateway to Wales for the cats, who come down through Lincolnshire and use disused railway lines to get around. They are like motorways for these animals."

Pete Pemberton, 64, is a huntsman who has criss-crossed Shropshire all of his life and is in no doubt a panther stalks his home village of Bayston Hill.

"I've seen it twice myself and most people around here have seen it at some time or other," he said.

"People were releasing big cats into the wild in the 1970s, so the idea that none of them survived is just foolish. They are out there, all right."

Bayston Hill lies south of Shrewsbury and hit the headlines two years ago when an elderly couple spotted a 'panther' in their back garden.

Armed police and a search helicopter were called in and part of Shrewsbury was sealed off during the hunt. A West Mercia Police armed response unit and dog handlers were called out and experts from West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire, were also drafted in.

The search proved unsuccessful, but it was the third reported sighting in a month of a huge black cat in the area.

Mr Pemberton claims someone saw the beast again just three weeks ago.

"There is plenty of food around here and I've lost count of the number of gutted rabbits I've found," he said.

"But it's not scary if you bump into it. It just slips away quickly. It will only attack when cornered so people have nothing to worry about as long as they use common sense."

A local fisherman, who asked not to be named, also told the Mercury of his encounter with the beast at a nearby lake.

"One night while fishing I spotted this enormous cat behind me in the bushes," he said.

"Every single hair stood up on my body.

"It was just sitting there, looking at me with its bright yellow eyes, but then walked off slowly into the bramble."

Big cat sightings are not only confined to Bayston Hill. This week gruesome pictures were published of a sheep stripped to the bone in Tamworth, Staffordshire.

The 'Tamworth Tiger' also reportedly left tell-tale claw marks across the hide of a horse.

The quiet Cotswold village of Burford has been haunted by the 'Beast of Burford' for two years with reports of livestock killed.

The total number of sightings recorded by the Big Cat Society is 2,123 and Danny believes twothirds of them are genuine. The others, he said, may be hoaxes or witnesses who mistakenly thought they saw the animals. adam_aspinall@mrn.co.uk ..SUPL: