Big Cats in Britain Alledged attacks On Humans By Big Cats In The British Countryside |
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Big Cats Attack!
The cases are outlined here for your information as reported in various newspapers etc. Some people have arguments to say that certain cases are hoaxes. We would value your opinion on these accounts. It should be noted that in practically all the cases that have come to light, these are not outright attacks, but chance encounters - but with what?!?As always, we need your help. Can you add to the accounts? Can you add more cases? Email |
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Doris who lives just outside of Insch had just finished feeding her horses and began walking the few yards to her car, at the same time Wilfred, her friend, was locking the stable door. He was having difficulty closing the padlock and began to bang down hard on it making a rather loud noise. Doris was also having difficulty keeping upright on the solid hard ice which was all around. The night was black, no street lights and no stars to illuminate the surroundings. Suddenly Doris heard a low whistling sound, rather like the blowing of air. She then felt something tugging at the bottom of her trousers, thinking she had snagged on something she tried to pull free. The same thing happened again. Then she felt a searing pain tearing through her thigh. Shocked she turned to see a large black animal with its 'jaws' clamped firmly on her leg. Doris began screaming and in her panic started hitting the animal with her large bunch of keys. The animal would not let go of its grip.
Wilfred on hearing the screaming turned and rushed towards Doris, wondering what on earth was happening. He saw what he describes as a "sleek black beastie" about the size of a Labrador, black in colour, run away from Doris and away into the inky blackness. Later he described the animal as a Black Panther.
Doris cannot describe the animal in much detail, she was in shock, and was obviously still in a state of alarm several weeks later when myself and Danny Bamping visited Doris and her family. She recalls turning to see this large animal on her leg, the hairs on its neck Doris describes as like bristles, believing later in hindsight that the hackles were raised, she remembers seeing the whiskers. Doris actually made it to the car with the animal still clamped around her leg, it was at this point that Wilfred saw the incident.
Doris said: “I didn't hear a growl or anything - it was all very quick, like the sound of the wind, as it lunged towards me. "It was jet-black and was scrabbling with its paw at my trouser leg. It then sunk its teeth into the top of my thigh and I screamed."I was trying to get into the car but it was tugging at my leg. I tried to break free by banging my keys down on its neck two or three times. I hate hitting animals but it was hanging on and trying to drag me down. Its coat was rough fur but it was too muscular for a dog. It finally fled but I lost my keys."
Wilfred took Doris to the hospital were her wounds were treated and she was given pain killers. She had suffered some very severe bruising. There were two fang marks across horizontally on her leg 4 centimetres apart. With a further fang mark 7 centimetres down. When Doris told the nurse that a large cat had been responsible for the wounds she got the impression that she was not believed at all!
There has been much written about this incident in local papers and websites, a lot seemingly untrue which Doris and her family pointed out, and Doris is quite upset at some of the printed comments and attitudes of people who visited her and who she initially trusted. Doris had a terrifying experience, she did not ask for this to happen, she did not ask for or seek publicity. All she is looking for is to be believed and a plausible explanation to fit the events, or conclusive proof that large cats are in the area, and as most of us know have been around that locale for a very long time now.
A couple of nights after the incident Wilfred was having a pint in his local and mentioned the encounter to a few friends, the next day completely unexpected the press descended on Wilfreds, Insch home. Doris reluctantly gave in to the pressure and gave an interview, a decision that she now somewhat regrets.
I (MF) first became aware of the incident via Annova which is a internet news agency. Then a reporter from the Aberdeenshire Press & Journal rang to ask my opinion on the incident, obviously not having met Doris and Wilfred I could not comment.
I was actually given the home number of Doris from a source in the area, but when I rang I was told the family had moved away, I thanked the person for his time anyway, and understood the reason for the statement, knowing that the family would most probably be quite fed up with all and sundry knocking on the door. In fact the family were harassed to some degree with reporters invading their land, peering through their kitchen window etc. I will say at this point that I was not the investigator who rang and was rude and aggressive because the family would not talk to me, that is not the case at all, but something put about by other big cat researchers, what their motives are heaven only knows! I quote a piece from Doris in a letter she wrote to me which should set the record straight on that point:
“...as a family we did not meet strangers, we met friends. Devoted to what they believe in...”
Unfortunately the trousers that Doris was wearing at the time of the incident were not obtained. These may well could have provided us with some useful information, now they will never be recovered.
Doris loaned a picture of a print she had taken in her garden the year before to a big cat investigator, she has not yet had this picture back and all her calls in trying to recover the picture have not been answered, if anyone knows where this picture is or happens to see it appear anywhere, please let me know so I could forward the information on to Doris and her family.
It has also been widely reported that locals ridiculed Doris, while it is true to say that a few wry comments were made Doris would like it pointed out that she received a lot of support from the local community. Several of who told of their encounters with the big cats! One particular lady had one of these animals jump over the bonnet of her car, although most want no publicity at all and will deny ever seeing such a cat should the press etc. get hold of it.
On the incident Wilfred said: “The animal just raced away afterwards. It was a sleek, thin animal, about the size of a Labrador. Definitely a large cat. I'm a retired sheep farmer and I've never seen anything like it. With a beast like that, you'd expect to find dead sheep lying around." He describes the cat as jet-black 3ft long without the tail, the size of a Labrador; 2 and a half to 3ft in height. There is no doubt in Wilfreds mind that the animal he saw attached to Doris Moores leg was a large cat, and after all he saw the animal!
I personally believe that Doris had an encounter with a large cat, I do not necessarily believe that it had intended to attack her, but with the commotion became scared and collided with Doris as it ran out of the stable. The animal had been holding up in the open shed adjacent to the stables in the hay that is kept there, obviously having found a warm place to lay for a while. The noise of Wilfred banging down hard on the padlock startled the animal.
Di Francis offers another logical explanation, maybe the cat was protecting young that may have gone under the car (for example) and the marks were not acually bite marks, but marks made by a swat of the paw.
Doris appeared on the Richard and Judy show along with Wilfred, the show decided to send trigger cameras to the area which they loaned from Clive Moulding, I was asked to go along with these cameras as Clive could not make it. Due to the short notice and work commitments, it made it impossible for me to go also. As we all knew, the results proved negative and nothing was caught on camera, which incidentally was positioned on top of a telegraph pole aiming at where Doris keeps her horses and not the steading where the cat had been holding up. Unfortunately this experiment came to naught.
Doris, quite upset at various comments on a web site wrote the following letter to address the situation.
CLICK HERE
My Account By Mick Cole.
This account was sent to Mark Fraser by Mick Cole. The pictures that did accompany the account were given to him by Danny Bamping at one of the BBCS meetings. Since then Mr Bamping has decided to go back on his word that we can use the pictures. Hence the reason the images are left blank.
It was approximately 14:30hrs on Wednesday January 9th 2002, and I had just garaged my car when I saw what I thought to be a large fox, with its' head down, walking along back alleyway.
The weather was dry and sunny and visibility was good.
It is not unusual to see foxes in the alleyway at this time of day, there are a lot of them in the area and they are now very bold, so I was not that surprised to see one now.
I like foxes, I think they are beautiful animals, so I went to the end of my driveway for a closer look.
When I got there I noticed the "fox" was walking very close to the wall as if it didn't really want to be noticed.
There was a black & white rabbit in it's mouth which was still kicking and obviously very much alive. Assuming this to probably be a domestic pet, I wanted to rescue it.
I had once read that the way to make a fox drop its' prey was to run at it, waving your arms and to shout and holler. The idea was to frighten the fox so much it would drop the prey. This made sound sense to me so off I went, screaming like a banshee and waving my arms like it was going out of fashion. At the same time, I was bending down and putting out my hand ready to catch the rabbit when the "fox" dropped it.
It was when I was less than an arm's length away and the "fox" looked up that I immediately realised that this was not a fox at all, but in fact a Lynx wild cat, about the size of a Labrador dog, brown in colour and instantly identifiable by the tufts of black fur on the tips of it's ears.
It was also pretty unhappy with me by now.
Obviously thinking it was being attacked, the Lynx swiped out with it's right paw and caught the back of my already outstretched right hand with its' claws, leaving three long and very deep wounds.
I leapt backwards, my wounds already bleeding quite badly, and retreated back towards my garage. I'm afraid to say that if it was the bunny or me, the bunny was going to have to take its' own chances.
The Lynx made no attempt whatsoever to follow up its' "attack", confirming my solid belief that it was only defending itself.
The Lynx then ran off down the alleyway, with the rabbit still in its' mouth, towards the fields and woodland that is at the end of that alleyway.
