Big cat sighting in Upwey

9:20am Saturday 6th February 2010
By Arron Hendy

A ‘BIG CAT’ feared to be roaming Dorset has been spotted on the edge of Weymouth.

Residents say they have seen the black ‘puma-shaped’ animal – larger than a domestic cat – in fields at the top of Upwey.

Annabel Broome, 66, said it was like the one seen near Bockhampton that is thought to have savaged a sheep.

She said: “I saw it on my own walking across the field at the top of the Ridgeway. It looked very black with a flat back and a tail that stood out behind it. It had a big puma cat shape rather than like a domestic cat.”

Ms Broome keeps chickens at her home on the Ridgeway but said they had not been attacked.

She added: “I have a neighbour who sees it quite frequently. It has been seen a few times around Upwey. My neighbour sees it just before 6am at the top of the hill.” A mother of two said she spotted a black creature in fields behind her back garden at Upwey last week.

The mum, who doesn’t want to be named, said: “It was quite big and black, and bigger than a normal cat. It walked through the field. It moved like a cat in their distinctive way, rather than like a dog.” The mum, from Dorchester Road, added: “Normally I’m the last person to believe these sort of things but it definitely looked like some sort of large cat.”

Chickerell resident David Rees, 73, is convinced people are seeing the same 6ft-long ‘panther’ he saw.

Mr Rees said: “I was on a driving lesson with my grandson when we came across the panther. It was 20 metres in front of our car in the centre of the road.”

Mr Rees and his grandson Callum were near Eggardon Hill when they stopped the car. Mr Rees added: “This animal was a minimum of 5ft 6in to 6ft long nose to tail. The animal looked straight at us and leapt into the hedge.”

In January a lamb was savaged in Bockhampton.

Afterwards a vet confirmed the injuries were more consistent with an attack by a cat and unlike those caused by dogs, foxes or badgers.

Then a ‘very large, jet black panther-like cat’was seen by Stratton resident Julian Foster near Poundbury.

A dog walker also reported seeing a large black cat in Puddletown near Hardy’s Cottage.

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4992719.Big_cat_sighting_in_Upwey/
(Submitted by Mark North)