FEARS are growing over a big cat prowling the UK countryside after a suspected leopard’s lair was discovered inside a metal pipe filled with rotting sheep carcasses.
Big cat hunter Darren Tinsley stumbled upon the den in an abandoned metal pipe.
Half-eaten sheep carcasses were strewn inside, while other remains nearby were discovered in similar conditions.
The 42-year-old said the skin had been peeled back and bones licked clean of flesh.
He believes the creature responsible could be a leopard or puma prowling around Frodsham, near Runcorn, Cheshire.
He said: “They all looked like they have been savaged.
“All the bodies looked like a cat had torn the skin back and eaten it from the insides and out.
“All the skin had been cleaned off like they had been licked off by a big cat.
“There were a few carcasses inside and around the pipe.
“There were others around a tree at the other end of the field – easy places for a cat to kill and eat them without being noticed.”
He claimed to have witnessed five big cat sightings over 28 years.
“My first one was in 1997 then 1999 but I didn’t see another until around 2014,” he said.
“It was close up just meters away so I got a good look and then then again in 2015 and 2016.
“But that was the last time – I have not seen not one seen since.
“When I saw one up close it confirmed it for me.
“So I know what I knew I saw every other time.
“I have been obsessed since.”
There are many claims of big cat sightings across the UK each year although hard evidence of their existence remains elusive.
And while over the years, debate has raged over whether grainy pictures and videos can conclusively prove that big beasts are on the prowl, experts insist they are lurking in our countryside.
Leading wildcat expert Rick Minter says he has personally heard of 1,400 credible accounts of big cats in the UK over the last decade, but believes they are the “tip of the iceberg” as most go unreported.
