GLEN VAUDREY'S WHOLE WIDE WORLD #31. England

31. England
In spite of the fact that some folk think that there is hardly any part of England that has not been built on there are still many places for mystery animals to be found lurking in this green and pleasant land.
There have been reports of creatures ranging from big cats to huge black dogs foretelling doom, and tales of lakes that against all expectations have been reported to contain creatures from crocodiles to mermaids. There are even enough ghostly rabbits to give Elmer Fudd nightmares. However I am going to look at one of those reported sightings of an exotic animal that is just out of place.

Back in 1974 motorist Joan Gilbert was driving along Western Avenue in Bournemouth when she saw a strange animal illuminated in the beam of her headlights, she would recall that ‘it was the most peculiar animal I have ever seen, half cat and half dog. It had stripes, a long thin tail and seemed to be grey… with some yellow on it. Its ears were set back like a member of the cat family, and it was as big as a medium sized dog. It was thin and definitely not a fox.’

On later looking at an animal book while trying to identify the nature of the beast she identified an animal that looked the part: a Thylacine.

Like many mystery animal sightings it does seem to leave more questions than answers. The Thylacine is officially extinct in its native Tasmania (saying that, there are still reported sightings). As for a population of them living wild in the UK there has never been a hint of such a thing.

Next stop Wales and another mystery animal to look out for.