Chris said: “I heard a dog barking and there was a blood-curdling roar before the attack. There wasn’t any
sign of the dog’s owner.
“The cat was like a panther or puma and twice the size of a Labrador. It had short, black hair.”
Chris watched, helplessly, as it pounced on the black and white dog, then tore it apart in the attack at 2.40 p.m.
She said: “I just couldn’t believe it, but what’s more worrying is that whatever it was, it showed no fear
of me being close by.”
Chris cantered to the Livery Yard, Stocks Farm, Aldbury, and reported the attack to police. So far police have not had any
report of a missing dog fitting the description. Danny claims a number of Big Cats have been released in the British Isles
over the last 30 years or so with reports of sightings on the increase.
In 2002, the Society had reports of five sightings in Hertfordshire, and between April 2004 and July 2005, there were nineteen.
In the South West, a Devon farmer came across a skull, which the Society has identified as a Puma.
Data also includes three reports regarding attacks on horses, and over thirty-five incidents involving sheep kills. Several
paw prints have been confirmed, as well as collections of over six hair samples, some currently waiting analysis.
Visit the British Big Cats’ Society website at www.britishbigcats.org
