Motorist called police after spotting puma-like big cat (via Paul Cropper)

Motorist called police after spotting puma-like big cat
22 October 2009
Derby Evening Telegraph
(c) 2009 Evening Telegraph

A Sighting of a big black cat, described as "like a puma", has been reported near Belper. The animal was seen by a driver close to Idridgehay at about 5pm last Friday. He called police. The man, travelling from Wirksworth to Duffield on his way home to Mickleover, described the animal to officers as much bigger than a domestic cat and with a long tail.

The details were also passed on to a police officer who keeps a list of similar sightings in the area. These include an incident in June 2005, when officers investigated a suspected big cat attack on animals in Belper. Two years later, a motorist reported seeing a black creature crossing the main road in Brassington and heading for the outskirts of the village. They described it as bigger than a dog and looking like a panther.

Later that summer, three people said they saw a large black cat the size of a panther in a field at Ashford-in-the-Water. In December 2007, a couple phoned police describing a large black animal with a long thin tail, in a lane in the village of Hackney, in Matlock. And in January of this year, villagers in Whatstandwell said a black cat was seen on a patio and jumped 8ft when it was startled and ran off.