Northamptonshire cat

 Northamptonshire cat - Mystery of beast sighting

A MYSTERIOUS black beast has been spotted prowling the Northamptonshire countryside once again.

The panther-like creature was seen by Michelle Deakin as she was travelling between Collingtree and Milton Malsor on Sunday night.

She believes the animal she spotted lurking by the roadside was in fact a puma, after doing some research on the Internet

At first the 32-year-old housewife, who lives in Bugbrooke, initially thought that it was a dog"The animal moved like a large dog but when we got closer realised that it was some sort of cat," she explained.

"It was black and also slightly grey in colour and had a very muscular build.

"The animal moved sleekly across the road and I also noticed that it had black rings around its tail. It was quite a shock to see something like that in the Northamptonshire countryside."

In the past three years there have been 14 reported big cat sightings across the county.

Sightings have been reported in East Hunsbury, Pattishall and Blakesley.

And last July a sheep belonging to a farmer in Moreton Pinkney was killed and paw marks, believed to belong to a big cat, were found on the animal.

Danny Bamping, from the British Big Cat Society, said that Northamptonshire remains one of the top five regions for sightings in the whole country.

"There have been many spottings of strange panther-like creatures in the region over the last couple of years," he said.

"The majority of them have been consistent which backs the theory that there are several of these creatures living wild in Northamptonshire and surrounding counties."

james.hall@northantsnews.co.uk

26 August 2005

Source :

• https://www.northamptontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=255&ArticleID=1128168