MICK WALTERS: I saw something odd last night

Hi Jon,

I would just like to wish you a Happy New Year. Hopefully this year will be a better one for us all. I also hope you and Corinna are feeling better now. I needed to email you because I wanted to known if your Staffordshire Representatives Shoshannah Hughes and Lisa Malam have any reports of sightings of strange animals in the Shelton area of Stoke on Trent.

Last night at about 8.15 pm Brenda and I where in her car travelling on Etruria Vale Road in Shelton Stoke on trent, as we approached the brow of the hill something shot out from behind a parked car and ran across the road in front of us. It was that quick Brenda did not even see it and to me it looked just like a black blur. I thought it was a normal black domestic cat; we have a lot around here. However, as we got level with the point it had crossed the road I looked down the alleyway on the other side and saw something very odd. This thing was about the size of a fox in height, but its body was longer a bit like a ferret. Its ears where small and rounded and facing forward. However, the thing that made me think this animal just was not right was its shoulder blades, they were very bony and the gap between them was very small. It was moving up the alleyway at the time and it walked pressed hard up against the wall as if it was stalking something. I did not get to see its face as it was walking away from the road it did not turn to look at us as we passed. I thought this was odd because most domestic cats stop and turn to have a look at who is passing. It was not a black leopard it was just too long and small but it was not a normal cat either. I have taken photographs of Leopards and this thing was not one of them.

If you need any more information then email me, if I think of any thing else then I will get in touch. Brenda as since told me she saw the same sort of animal a year a go in the same spot, she said it just did not seem right she could not put a finger on it but it just was not a normal looking animal. Brenda did not see it last night she was watching the road and I did not say any thing until we had passed it and gone through some traffic lights. By then it was too late to stop and turn back it would have gone it was moving fast.

Ps I may send this email onto Dave Sadler at the UPIA just to see if they have any reports of anything similar.



Regards

Mick