A teenage camper has filmed an animal feeding on a “dead sheep” in the Peak District, raising fears that a “big cat” is on the loose in the British countryside.
Josh Williams, 17, spent the night wild camping with a friend when they spotted the creature feasting on the carcass of another animal near Jacob’s Ladder in Derbyshire.
The boy said they were walking from Mermaid’s Pool on Kinder Scout towards Edale when they caught sight of the animal in a nearby field.
He said: “We were both confused when we first saw it.
“We stood staring at it and questioning what it could be for around five minutes before I decided to start recording so that I could zoom in and get a better look.
“We tried attracting its attention so that it would turn and face us, so that we could get a better understanding of what we were looking at.”
The campers said the possible big cat, which had a long black tail, was in a field of sheep with no other animals. They added that animal was silent except for a “occasional crunch” suggesting it was potentially feeding on a sheep.
“We could instantly tell it was something different the moment we laid eyes on it – we both saw it at the same time and gave each other a confused look,” Josh said.
“I could tell we were both thinking the same thing as the day before, we were actually discussing the possibility of us running into a wild cat whilst on our trip.”
Josh and his friend Ben Burns avoided getting close to the animal to avoid an attack but said its presence was “eerie”.
He said: “We didn’t shut up about what we saw the entire way home, telling each other it can’t possibly be a wild cat.
“But then that also begs the question, what the hell is it?
“I showed the video to my college tutor and friends to make sure I wasn’t going crazy and they were all in disbelief.”
“I was glad I managed to capture it on video after the event unfolded as I knew that nobody would believe me if I told them I had seen a panther in the Peak District the first time I went camping.”
Panthers live mostly in Africa and can also be found in some Asian countries, including India, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Due to their predatory and wild nature, they can pose a threat to humans. They will usually avoid people and are unlikely to attack for no reason.
