The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper column inches than any other cryptozoological subject.There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived in some way by us, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.
It takes a long time to do, and is a fairly tedious task, so I am not promising that they will be done each day, but I will do them as regularly as I can. JD
Big cat shock - panther spends day in Seaford home
Sussex Express
THE Big Cat controversy took a bizarre twist this week with the revelation that a 'panther' spent a day in someone's house. The beast is believed to have sneaked into the home of Ivan and Gemma Sherlow when the door to their home was inadvertently left unlocked.
One might as well start with a freaky one; after all we are the Centre for Fortean Zoology, rather than the Centre for perfectly safe and predictable stories. I don't know what to make of this story as the idea of a rare and elusive big cat wandering into someone's unlocked suburban home does sound extremely unlikely. However, in India and Africa such things have been reported, and if the cat was once a pet, it might well be less worried by the idea of human contact.
However, if this story is true, not only was the door "inadvertantly" left unlocked, but it was left open as well, unless this sagacious felid has learned to tackle doorknobs. If so, then someone should perhaps contact Rupert Sheldrake.
The best line in the story was: "While she locked herself in the bedroom, he sought out his shillelagh – a traditional Irish club – and investigated the house. He found nothing."
Hmmmmm.
Moving swiftly on...
I saw the big cat and a UFO
This is Tamworth
WALKING through Wigginton Park in the weekend's snow, I noticed a large cat-like paw print. 'Definitely not from kitty, I thought, so being the inquisitive sort, I lay in wait in some nearby bushes. Quite soon, there appeared a bright light in the sky...
Oh dear, it's saturday, and out come the humourists. And that's it for today.
The Seaford story appeared on Meridian News early Feb', and I then contacted some of the Sussex papers to see if they'd like to follow it up. As you say, it's amazing that a leopard was able to walk through a front door in the dead of night and then casually curl up behind the sofa. It seems that this month is silly season regarding 'big cat' stories...UFOs, puma/leopard hybrids, blurry 'conclusives' and now a leopard in your lap!!!
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