Back to 2008 English News

  Predator on the Prowl

Big Cats in Britain

English News - can you add to this story? email here

BCIB NEW blog spot

    
   
   
   
   

Predator on the Prowl

This is Somerset: 5th June 2008

This is Somerset
   
A Draycott farmer has warned of a mystery predator roaming the Mendips slaughtering farm animals.
Four fully grown lambs have been killed in less than a week at Bristol Plain Farm near Mendip Gliding Club.Farmer Donald Williams, who has worked the Mendip hills for more than 40 years, said: "These lambs are fully grown and 80lbs in weight. This was not a dog, but something much bigger and much more powerful."
Mr Williams' son, Gerald, found the first of the dead animals a week ago.
"It was half eaten, cleaned out right to the spine," said Donald.
"Whatever it is, it is powerful enough to pull a fully-grown lamb down."
More disturbing was the fact that the predator appeared to have come back the following night, ate the rest of the dead animal and killed another.
On Tuesday the Williams found that the animal had returned in daylight to kill again.
Donald said he believed the attacker was a big cat that had been released into the wild by an owner who could no longer cope with it.
"I think that it has been reared in captivity.
"We had moved one of the bodies, which meant the lamb had the smell of humans on it, but whatever it is it was not scared off by this as a wild animal would have been."
The lambs being eaten marks the attacks out as unusual. In incidents in which dogs have been involved in sheep worrying the prey is killed usually by bites to the throat, but rarely eaten.
However one local man suggested that the killings could be the work of stray dogs.
Several animals in the Draycott and Priddy area have gone missing in recent weeks, after being spooked by thunderstorms and could be loose in the area
"Whatever it is, it's killing the lambs for food," said Gerald.
"We have reported it to the police in the hope that warnings can go out to other farmers, and we want to get the message out to the public so they can keep watch.
"One of our neighbours reported that one of his lambs was killed three weeks ago, so it is covering a wide area.
"If it is hiding up Cheddar Gorge way it could be hiding in the long grass and scrub and the sheep would not see it until it attacked."
Have you seen a mystery animal on the Mendips? Contact the Newsdesk on 01749 832335

Do you have any information on the above reports. Were you the person involved, or are you aware of any more sightings in this area. We would appreciate any information that you could give us.

Have your say on the forum.