‘I Saw Big Cat on my Wild Walk.’
Margaret Doherty reckons she was stopped in her tracks by a big cat as
she walked near Sudeley Castle.The 60-year-old, from Winchcombe, was walking
a friend's dog across the estate's parkland when she says a wild cat the
size of a panther bound across the fields.
She said: "It was huge. I stood there and stared in amazement.
"Just before it happened there was an awful squabbling noise. Then I
saw it.
"It looked like a big dog at first. I thought it was a big black
Doberman.
"But as it got nearer I realised what it was. I wasn't scared. It was
incredible to watch."
Mrs Doherty is convinced that the creature she saw is a panther.
"I'm not mad," she said. "It couldn't have been a dog, it was far too
big.
"You read about people seeing these things and you think 'yeah right,
of course you did', but I know what I saw.
"It's frightening to think that it's out there roaming. I don't know
what it is living off. It could be eating sheep.
"I rang some local farmers when I got home to warn them."
The encounter hasn't put her off walking across the same fields.
Mrs Doherty said: "I went back this morning and didn't see anything.
"I've come this way for years and never seen anything before but I
know it's out there now.
"I'm an animal lover but something has to be done about it to protect
other animals."
There have been a number of supposed big cat sightings in
Gloucestershire.
Images of a large animal were captured on CCTV cameras in Cirencester
last September. A pensioner also reported seeing a 4ft panther-like creature
in a field on the edge of town. Days later unusual paw prints were
discovered in a garden in Coates, near Cirencester.
Last June an animal was spotted in Watermoor and Cotswold District
Council's chief executive Bob Austin thought he saw a big cat in Stratton.
Gloucestershire Echo: 12th October 2006
