A MYSTERIOUS “big cat” has been spotted prowling on a Staffordshire farm. Dramatic night vision footage showed the huge creature, believed to be 3ft tall and 3ft long, roaming free at the top of the field. Images show the large feline – believed to be bigger than a medium dog – casually strolling by a […]
A MYSTERIOUS “big cat” has been spotted prowling on a Staffordshire farm.
Dramatic night vision footage showed the huge creature, believed to be 3ft tall and 3ft long, roaming free at the top of the field.
Images show the large feline – believed to be bigger than a medium dog – casually strolling by a fence 500 yards away.
A big cat expert said it is “some of the most interesting footage” he has seen and couldn’t rule out it being a black panther, leopard or a hybrid large feline.
Marksman and pest controller Carl, 43, captured the moment it walked into his eye-line and can be heard asking: “God knows what the hell that is all the way back there.”
He was using his sub-12ft lb air rifle while working the area – looking for rabbits – when he spotted a “big dark shadow in the background”.
He told The Sun Online: “I was on a shooting commission and about 10.30pm I was scanning the field when I noticed a big dark shadow in the background.
“A creature was walking along the fence at the top of the field 500 yards away.
“The reason it stood out was because it stayed so black under the night vision light. I concentrated on it and said ‘God knows what the hell that is’.
“I got home and downloaded all the footage from my scope. My wife also noticed it and said ‘what’s that’. We had a closer look and watched it over again and again.
“The next day I sent the footage to the Big Cats Society who said it’s very interesting and definitely a large cat by the way it was walking and the size of its tail.
“He asked if I saw any foxes around that night – I hadn’t and there wouldn’t be any around if this was roaming the field.
“It then dawned on me what I had seen and potentially what I had been out with all on my own.
“If it had walked in a straight line it would have been right on top of me – when you think back, it’s quite scary.”
Carl, from Birmingham, West Mids, added: “I asked the expert if it would ever approach me, but he said ‘I’m not going to say no, but it would be very unlikely’.
God knows what the hell that is all the way back there.”
Pest controller Carl
“He said it will be top of the food chain, and its natural predator is a human so it’s unlikely it would come over.”
Danny Bamping, from the British Big Cats Society, told The Sun Online: “It’s one of the most interesting videos I’ve seen and Carl’s credibility adds to it.
“He knows what he’s doing and knows a lot about this kind of thing.
“It’s definitely not a fox, badger, dog, or deer so the question is what type of large cat is it.
“The majority of sightings in Staffordshire have been of a brown sandy cat, a mountain lion and a puma – but we can’t say exactly what it is or rule anything out.”
Mr Bamping said it’s “definitely a large feline” but did not want to attach the “big cat” label to it, meaning it would be a tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, or snow leopard.
Big cats, apart from the snow leopard, have the ability to roar, but he could not rule out it being a black panther, leopard or a hybrid large feline.
