Jim Rayner

The police at Barnham Common, near Thetford in Norfolk have on their records a report of a large cat with eyes that glowed in torchlight. Cases of fowl being ripped apart in a cat-like manner were also reported.

The Hampshire police investigated a case near Odiham of a large cat seen to be stalking rabbits.

The Surrey Puma

Guildford in Surrey was also the roaming ground for the big cats – in fact “The Surrey Puma” was probably one of the first well-publicised cat sightings in the UK in the 1970s, and it did coincide with a UFO flap (big cats and UFOs sightings have gone closely together on more than one occasion). Police Inspector Eric Bourn reported that the cat looked like a puma – ginger brown and the size of a Labrador. However, another PC reported the cat to be mostly black with two white spots on the left front leg. Evidence of big cats was listed as holes in the skulls of dead animals, and of rib cages being crushed in one squeeze.

Now for some reports that seem at odds with belief that these big cats were ‘wild’ animals. Torches and spotlights did not frighten the creatures, and generally the cats did not seem bothered by close human proximity, and often did not seem to sense the approach of humans (although this may not have been surprising if they had been escaped exotic pets that had been used to regular human contact). Indeed some reports suggest that they took no notice when being fired at with a 12-bore shotgun!

The creature(s) were observed by binoculars, and were seen to raise their heads and sniff the air. Another oddity of the creatures was noted that the creature had a surprisingly flat nose, even to the point of being pig-like. Generally the creatures were about 3 ft in height. When seen in detail with binoculars, the cats were said to have slit-like eyes, again not at all cat-like features. Prints of paw marks were found in mud – but they seemed very large even for a puma at 5” across. Frequently torchlight would be shone into the eyes of the ‘cats’ but the normal high reflection back that is associated with cats eyes did not occur.

Another really odd facet was that sheep were often not remotely bothered by the presence of what should have been regarded as a large feline predator, and the sheep would be more wary of sheepdogs than the big cats. As Jim notes, it is almost as if the two creatures were unaware of each other. Another curious factor of the sightings was the occasions when farmer’s dogs would refuse to go outside with their masters, and would even cower indoors and hide under tables etc – anything to keep away from something…

However, one noted feature of the ‘cats’ was their inability to scramble over fences and walls – this is not at all cat-like! The cats were also said to have a very noctious repelling smell – which always seemed very off-putting to sheepdogs. So we have observed features that the creatures were 3 – 4 ft tall, had slits for eyes, had large paws – they had difficulty in scaling walls and fences – often leaving scratch marks on fences. I’m sure that most of you realize that any member of the cat family is very agile, and has no problems leaping up and over objects or up onto walls or into trees etc. Yet the ‘big cat creatures’ struggled to clear obstacles, and often landed very heavily. Some reports suggested it had abnormally long hind-legs, more like a young horse, and again quite unlike any big cat, or indeed any large predator.

During the sighting period of the Surrey Puma, sheep were found mutilated – mainly with gaping holes in their sides – this is not the normal behavior of a large cat eating something it has killed, and has perhaps more sinister connections to the animal mutilations that came to prominence in the 1980s onwards. The bite marks in the sheep suggest very powerful jaws, leaving holes in the skull bones. The general ‘kill signature’ was not that of a canine or fox. Sometimes the kills suggested that only blood had been ‘sucked’ from the prey – shades of Chupacabras!

As the sightings progressed, more sheep were found mutilated, and some appeared to totally vanish. A new ‘creature’ was by now seen, this one a large creature with a gleaming black coat, and two white feet. It was said that the head was not in proportion to the rest of the body. Again the reports indicated a possible flat piggish nose, and a lot of whiskers, and even flat pointed ears, and at least once green slit eyes were observed.

All in all we have many reports of a creature that exhibits few attributes of a cat, big or otherwise. Jim notes that some suggested that it may have been a large cross-breed dog – possibly lurcher, staghound or greyhound mix – which were not so unusual amongst gypsies and travellers. Whatever, the big cats are still with us…

Closer to home! - by Brian P James

All of this reminds me of a curious set of tracks I saw in the snow back in the winter of 1982/83. After a night of heavy snowfall, I went for a walk on the downs in the afternoon, and naturally there were a great many animal tracks all over the lanes, paths and farmland. My interest was taken by one set of tracks – that looked feline in shape and form. The tracks didn’t look quite right for a quadroped, and indeed looked closer to bipedal in stride. The tracks got curiouser, as they went through a fence, and then stopped about 3m into a field. The tracks were certainly not avian, so it certainly wasn’t a bird. Now what feline can walk through a fence and vanish in what logically must have been ‘upwards’! Gryphons were supposed to exist only in folklore, and of course in 1983 our old friend the Chupacabras was unheard of….

As a footnote to this recollection, sadly there were no photos taken, as I didn’t have a camera with me that day, and a rapid thaw overnight removed the evidence…