Farmers, dog walkers and train conductors have all retold their accounts of the moment they claim to have spotted a big cat roaming the West Country.
Some have seen the strange creature on more than one occasion, others have described the blood-curdling moment they were stalked by what they believe was a panther.
Recent DNA from a black hair sample, snagged on a fence at a Gloucestershire farm, was found to have 99 per cent chance it was a black leopard.
READ MORE: 'Big cat' spotted in West Country woodland by BBC presenter Clare Balding
Now Rick Minter, producer of the Big Cat Conversations podcast, considers how black leopards live undercover here in the West Country,
“A freckled panther!?” reported John in North Devon in Summer 2020. He wasn’t expecting to see a giant black cat roam through his smallholding. He was even more confused at seeing freckles on its coat.
In fact, John had possibly witnessed a rare colour morph – what’s called a cobweb panther. He questioned his sanity, but was greatly relieved when I sent him a photo from the web, of just such an animal, photographed in a zoo.
The freckles, or cobweb effect, are from de-pigmentation. Other mammals including horses and sometime humans can exhibit this, in what’s called vitiligo. In a large cat, it could indicate inbreeding.
Amongst the steady reports of big cats reported in Britain, over several decades, John’s description stands out. Signs of inbreeding are rare. If at any one time there were 50 odd panthers, breeding on from past releases, they would likely be inbred. Features like stubbed tails, white blaze marks, and the cobweb effect would be reported, yet they are not. But get to around 300 individuals, and the genetic health is more stabilised. Across the accounts, people describe fit, healthy and confident big cats. They appear truly wild, not stressed or struggling.
“I didn’t want to report it – it seemed so comfortable in its environment” said a train conductor earlier this year. From the back of the train, he watched one of the tan coloured large cats, which resemble mountain lions, also called cougars and pumas. Similar in size and form to black panthers, and equally stealthy, these sandy-brown predators account for 20% of reports, year on year. “My wife only believed me when she heard some of the podcasts” he said.
Many landowners and farmers seem tolerant too, perhaps because the cats seem to prefer deer to sheep as their main large prey. “We have big cats - and have to learn to live with them” said a Gloucestershire farmer at one of my talks. On the next door farm, two people had separately reported a tan coloured puma drinking from a water trough. I asked the farm family if I could tether a camera trap there – the chance to film at strategic points on a large cat’s route should not be missed. Reluctantly, permission was declined.
The farm buildings were only a field away, and hosted a sensitive business with regular visitors. Like so many properties, these people felt that gossip on big cats was best avoided.
I receive scores of reports every year, and over 20 Facebook groups, national and local, look into the topic. In many cases the encounter is too close for any mistaken identity and reaching for a phone camera is hardly a priority. People’s dogs and horses also react, mostly in an alert mode never seen by their owners.
Now over a hundred different cases can be heard on Big Cat Conversations. It is black panthers which make up the majority of accounts. Their native population strongholds are far away in Java and in Malay Peninsula. There people call them panthers, but biologically they are leopards. Black pigment hides the rosettes. A black mating pair of leopards will produce all black offspring.
In September 2021 in Staffordshire a young guy was watching deer at sunrise from his car in a layby. Suddenly they got edgy and skittish, then bolted off.
Out from the surrounding scrub emerged a panther, or leopard, knowing its cover was blown. It drifted back into hiding before the shocked witness could grab his phone camera. Commenting on the scene, he said: “The deer were quite dark, but the cat was jet black! With a long tail, it wasn’t fat, but streamlined if that makes sense, and shoulders blades were glistening.
"It was surreal, the image has stayed with me. Hope they don’t get attention from trophy hunters.” Like many observers, he had been a sceptic… “I’ve never really paid any attention to big cats in Britain as I thought people were confused or just lying.”
In Somerset three months later, a dog walker watched a similar scene. Describing events on episode 71 of the podcast, she entered a field, again at first light. Nearby was a mystery dark shape – then she noticed a panther manoeuvre into the next pasture. It positioned itself before rushing at a deer. She watched it close in, just gain the ground as it surged, and heard a brief squeal as predator despatched its prey. “I could tell such a large powerful and heavy animal, moving like that, couldn’t be a dog” she remarked. In her profession, see sees dogs every day.
These are safari scenes in middle England, amongst our farming operations, where we enjoy tranquil views, and next to our dog walks. The big cats effortlessly and naturally work around us. Many of us doubt their existence because we cannot comprehend their stealth.
As has been widely reported, recent DNA from a black hair sample, snagged on a fence at a Gloucestershire farm, confirms the black leopard theory. So have sporadic releases of trophy pets, at different times in the past, given us a head start on rewilding for predators? As we debate how to naturally cull deer by bringing back the Eurasian lynx to our shores, have we accidently created Panther Britannica and Cougar Celtica?
Another guest on Big Cat Conversations described his startled state, as he and his dog met a panther on a path one evening. It followed them through the shadows for some heart stopping moments. Like so many witnesses, he felt his senses charged and awoken. He thought they might have converged while the cat eyed-up rabbits. A precision engineer by trade, he remarked: “a stealthy black leopard active in a British wood is the ultimate precision engineering”.
Find more on Tiktok on Rick's podcast.
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