Wild Animals on the Increase
MORE than 10,000 sightings of wild and exotic animals have been reported in the UK since 2000 and the figure is set to grow, according to a study compiled by the group Beastwatch UK.
It seems there are more wild animals on the loose than ever before, including 5,931 big cats, 332 wild boars and 3,389 sharks in British waters.
In Bolton, on June 20, Anne Wright, the head of English at Rumworth School, Deane, spotted a large cat as she looked out of the bedroom window of her home in Spring Meadows, off Radcliffe Road in Darcy Lever. The police made inquiries following her call but failed to find anything.
In another incident in April, local woman Julie Foster was riding her horse when she caught sight of a large cat-like animal in woods at the bottom of Old Hall Lane, Darcy Lever.
The British Big Cat Society has reported a dramatic increase in big cat sightings in recent years, with 2004-5 figures already up 3.5 per cent on the previous year's study.
Hundreds of wild and exotic creatures usually found in the zoo or the jungle are sighted every week.
This is Lancashire: 18th September 2006
