Puma-like cat spotted in fields (via Paul Cropper)

Puma-like cat spotted in fields
22 April 2010
Cheddar Valley Gazette
(c) 2010 Cheddar Valley Gazette

The Big Cat of Banwell Wood has been sighted.

Felicity Saunders, who has chickens in her garden, said residents need to be warned about the puma-like cat which she watched pounding across the field and into the woods. The big cat, which was black, has now been seen twice in fields at Banwell.

Miss Saunders, who saw the cat on Thursday, also heard a growling noise as she walked her dog later that evening in Banwell Wood. Her home in East Street adjoins a field which backs on to the wood.
She said: "My nephew, James Galloway, drew my attention to it.

"At first I thought it was just a pet cat but when it started to run I realised it was far too big, with a long body and big tail. It was puma-sized, bigger than a Labrador dog. It ran into the wood. The vicar says a lady saw it up in Dark Lane a few days ago. It's jet black. I want to warn people to be careful with their pets. I keep chickens which might have attracted it."

There have been 100 sightings of alleged exotic and unidentified animals in the UK in the last five years. Last month Charlie Wilson, who co-ordinates reports of sightings for English Nature, the Government agency responsible for investigating them, said some sightings are plausible and he is prepared to believe that occasionally exotic animals have been dumped in the countryside or escaped. But he said he does not believe there are breeding populations.