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CLOSE encounter: Jason Ainsworth with his puppy pug.

Face to Face with Mysterious Beast By Catherine Smyth

Rossendale Free Press: 18th August 2008

Rossendale Free Press
   
A GARDENER has told how he came face to face with the mysterious animal dubbed the “Huttock Top beast”.
Jason Ainsworth, 36, of Bankside Lane, Bacup, was completing work in the garden of his home last Sunday when he had the shock encounter.
It is the latest of numerous recent sightings of the panther-like animal, which has been spotted across the Valley including at Bacup, Newchurch and Rawtenstall.
Jason said: “It was about 9.50pm and I was starting taking the tools in when I saw it. It was looking up and I startled it and it ran across in front of me and between the bushes.
“It was definitely a cat. It was about knee-height " the size of a Labrador.
“At first I thought it was a big dog, but then I saw its face and it was definitely feline, with a really long tail which was flailing about.
“It was jet black, like a panther. It moved very quickly and it had piercing eyes.”
Jason went into his conservatory to get a stick before going to check the bushes, but by then the creature had gone.
He said: ‘It shocked me at the time and I was a bit nervous.
“You don’t expect to see something like that in your garden. I was glad my dog wasn’t outside because he would have been a snack.”
When he told his neighbour, Terry Bork, of Huttock Top Farm, he discovered something had been worrying his livestock again; a female turkey had been attacked that night but luckily survived the ordeal.
Terry, who runs open farm Animal Quackers from the premises, has had ducks, geese and turkeys killed and believes the beast is responsible.
Meanwhile, a photograph of a paw print in the snow, taken by the late Chris Cudworth, of Bankside Lane, has also been sent in.
His mum Eileen said he took the photograph at the top of Bankside Lane near Maden Rec.
Have you seen the Huttock Top Beast? If so, call the Free Press newsdesk and report your sighting. Call 213311 or email us on freepressnews@menwn.co.uk

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.

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