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Cops Probe Big Cat Sightings
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Cops Probe Big Cat Sightings
By JOHN TROUP and MARTIN PHILLIPS Additional reporting: PHILIP CASE
The Sun: 9th September 2008
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A BIG cat prowls on the edge of an Essex field.
An escaped panther, maybe, or a puma living wild?
The sleek, black creature captured on camera has been dubbed the Beast of Billericay.
Police are certainly taking it seriously and have warned residents to be on their guard.
The “beast” has been spotted twice in the area in the past three weeks.
Student Marek Cerny took these snaps when he spotted it while he was trimming roses in the garden of a nearby house.
The 19-year-old, who is working as a gardener during his gap year, said the sight of the creature’s coat glistening in the summer sunshine stopped him in his tracks.
He managed to take a few shots on his digital camera before the animal skulked off into the undergrowth.
Marek said: “I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was very excited.
“The animal had huge, muscular shoulders, a small head, a long tail and big sharp ears.
“I went to get my camera in my flat because I was afraid to stand too close to it. The cat was just walking around the bushes very slowly. I think maybe it saw something.
“It was there for about three minutes. I was standing by the gate about 50ft away when it just shot into the bushes and vanished.”
Marek contacted the police who later arrived at the scene in the village of West Hanningfield.
Officers took pictures of themselves in the spot where he had taken the snaps. They then used computer technology to compare the sizes of their bodies to the animal in Marek’s photos.
Two days after the sighting last month police rang Marek to tell him it could be an escaped panther or puma.
Marek, who comes from the Czech Republic, caught a brief second glimpse of the creature last Friday.
He said: “I was cutting the grass in roughly the same area but this time I didn’t have my camera.
“I went to get another worker from the house and he saw the creature as well. It was there for about ten seconds before it jumped into the bushes.”
Marek said he told all his friends about the sighting and they laughed at him — until they saw the photos.
Two police wildlife crime officers visited Marek yesterday and examined the area.
The officers are believed to have found “deposits” left at the scene and took samples away for analysis.
A spokesman for Essex Police said last night: “I can confirm we are investigating sightings of a large cat at West Hanningfield in August and again on September 5.
“The photographs taken in August have been sent to an independent big cat monitoring group, which said the animal could be a big cat or a large domestic cat.
Captured
“Although there have been numerous sightings of large, cat-like animals in the past in Essex, no genuine big cats have been captured or found dead.
“However, we keep an open mind about such animals and we continue to investigate the sightings.”
Reports of the Beast Of Billericay follow a long line of strange sightings in Britain, which is littered with exaggerated stories, hoaxes, some positive proof and genuine mistakes.
They include the Surrey Puma of the Sixties, the Beast of Exmoor in the Eighties, and the Durham Puma and the Beast of Bodmin in the Nineties.
And let’s not forget the Demon of Dartmoor, the Sydenham Puma, the Cricklewood Lynx, the Lincolnshire Leopard, the Fen Tiger and the Beasts of Barford and Balbirnie.
So how many fearsome big cats are roaming free in Britain — and how many other wild, exotic creatures are at large?
Chris Mullins, who set up Beastwatch (UK) to keep track of sightings, most recently reported the spotting of 5,931 big cats, including panthers, pumas, leopards and lynxes — and there have been many more sightings since his 2006 survey.
The British Big Cats Society has also reported a big increase in sightings in recent years.
Both groups accept that not all sightings will be genuine, and that there are hoaxers out there as well as those who make genuine mistakes.
Two years ago police in Norfolk made public a 1991 report that a 59lb lynx was shot by a gamekeeper near Norwich.
And police in Lincolnshire who investigated reports of a leopard-like creature seen prowling round an abandoned caravan in 2003 collected hairs which scientists confirmed were not those of a domestic cat.
Up to 100 big cats are thought to have been released into the wild after the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act ruled that non-indigenous pets had to be kept under licence in proper enclosures.
Just two years ago police made an aerial search of Weald Country Park, just ten miles from the new sighting in Essex, after reports of a puma on the loose.
The latest “beast” could be a powerful predator which would not look out of place in the jungle. Or it could just be a plump pussycat.
To be on the safe side, you might not want to roam the countryside around West Hanningfield after dark.
You could just find yourself bumping into the beast.
Or Tiddles.
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.