By L.A. Henry
NORTH Antrim’s most notorious cat has once again been spotted. The wild animal, now thought to be a panther, crossed the path of a local journalist as she drove along Ballinlea Road, just five miles outside Ballycastle.
Lesley-Anne Henry was making her way home yesterday around 1.45pm when a huge, black feline creature stepped out in front of her car.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes, it just strode out from the ditch on my left and ran across the road in front of me into a wooded area on the other side. It must have been only ten metres away from me.
“The animal was about two and a half to three feet tall and about a metre or more long. It had a glossy black coat and was very sleak, walking very low to the ground.
“It was definitely too big to be a domestic cat, and too stealth like to be a dog. It’s movements were not dog like at all. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it in my life before.
“I stopped the car immediadately and got out to see if I could see where it went to but it had totally disappeared.”
This latest sighting, in broad daylight, disproves any notion that the animal is nocturnal and has instigated even more fear into an already apprehensive community.
Steven Philpott from USPCA said: “Judging from the photograph, it could well be a panther, it is big and it is cat like, but unless I see it’s shoulders I cannot be 100 per cent sure.”
The deadly animal has already struck several times in a bid to quell it’s hunger. A ram was attacked near the village of Bushmills and several pounds of flesh were ripped from a sheep’s carcass near Ballycastle last Saturday night. Experts now fear it will have to strike again to stay alive.
Lesley-Anne said: “Initially I wasn’t scared, I was so shocked but then I realised what I could be dealing with and retreated back into my car and called out our staff photographer who also saw it.”
Police marksmen are currently conducting using a spotter plane, night vision glasses and guns to conduct an aerial search of the heavily wooded and farmland areas around Portrush, Portstewart, Dervock and Bushmills. The animal which has been on the loose for almost two weeks is quickly becoming the area’s public enemy number one, and local farmers are now urging police marksmen to track the cat down and kill it.
Ballymoney Times: 29th August 2003.