I Saw Panther and Fled on my Buggy
When disabled Frances Green spotted a black panther heading straight
at her, she fled on her mobility scooter.The 40-year-old put the
vehicle into top gear, hit a maximum speed of 8mph and made her getaway.
Frances, who says she has seen the creature in the Cotswolds five
times before, came face-to-face with it outside Moreton District Hospital.
It was in a field three to four yards away.
Frances said: "It was large and black, just like a panther. It was
going to pounce on something in the grass and then it spotted me. It
probably thought 'dinner'.
Frances had been to the hospital for a shoe fitting and was coming out
of the car park.
She said: "At the end of the car park there's a gate which overlooks
the field. Something caught my eye and I thought 'that's way too big
for a dog and no way that's a cat'.
"There was no one around and all of a sudden it started running down
the field towards me.
"I thought it may jump over the gate and attack me so I started my
scooter and off I went at top speed. I didn't look back but it must
have stayed in the field."
Miss Green now lives in Moreton-in-Marsh.
She used to lived in Blockley and saw a big cat there.
She said: "I'd see a big cat roaming around when I was coming home
from concerts at about 2am and when we had snow, we found footprints.
"It must be about three years since I last saw it."
Miss Green thinks the animal could be an escapee from the former
Sleepy Hollow Farm Park, at Blockley.
Park boss Tim Spittle was ordered by Cotswold District Council to
close the big cat park, which included three lynx, one puma, a jaguar,
three tigers and two leopards, in 1999.
There have been a number of big cat sightings in Gloucestershire.
Earlier this month, Margaret Doherty, 60 was stopped in her tracks by
a big cat as she walked near Sudeley Castle.
Images of an animal were captured on CCTV cameras in Cirencester last
September.
A pensioner saw 4ft creature in a field on the edge of town. Days
later paw prints were found in a garden in Coates.
Last June an animal was spotted in Watermoor and Cotswold District
Council's chief executive Bob Austin saw a big cat in Stratton.
Gloucestershire Echo: 20th October 2006
