Caught on camera by teaching assistant Coryn Memory, the footage has astounded big cat trackers who believe a large feline is thriving in the Stroud Valleys. She has spotted the black leopard-like animal six times at an undisclosed location, which is only three miles from sightings and deer carcass finds near Woodchester. "I looked up and there it was," said mum-of-two Coryn, who took the footage from near her home. "The first time I saw it, I remember thinking it's a great big black cat, it could not have been anything else." Gloucester big cat tracker Frank Tunbridge gave her a video camera and, a year later in July 2010, she struck lucky. "I got about 20 minutes of footage," she said. "It looks like it's hunting small animals in the grass, which would be around in the summer." "It's the best footage in the UK," he said. "I have been over there to the site and it's stalked me – I heard it growling." He believes it could be a leopard-like animal. However, a leading academic sounded a note of caution. "It's a big cat," said Professor Stephen Harris, of the School of Biological Sciences' Mammal Research Unit at Bristol University. "It's not a leopard or a puma, it's a big cat." "It looks like a domestic cat. I would not make much more of it than that." He said black pumas and leopards are not common in their native regions of Asia, Africa or Nortnern America, so are very unlikely to be roaming the British countryside. "We have 100,000 deer and foxes, and 50,000 badgers killed on our roads yet no one has found a puma," he said. "I think it's very interesting – we have a big cat out there and they may have found their niche if they have enough prey." Last week, University of Warwick tests to find big cat DNA on deer carcasses – which were discovered near Woodchester Park and Dursley – only found traces of fox and deer. Several sightings of an animal which could be a large black cat have been reported nearby, and there have been other sightings and deer carcass finds at Cooper's Edge, Rodborough and in countryside around Newent. Frank gave Coryn the camera after The Citizen reported her sightings of what she believed to be a big black cat not far from her home near Stroud. She saw it twice in the summer of 2009, and three times in 2010 before she filmed it. She said she hasn't seen it for around 18 months but neighbours believe they spotted one in September. Belinda Filmer, of Cheltenham, was walking her dogs when she found a large footprint which she believes could be that of a large cat. Mrs Filmer, regional coordinator for the Labrador Rescue Trust, was out walking on the outskirts of Andoversford, when she found it. "I was out and saw this one remaining print. I took a picture." "You can see footprints left by the dogs I was walking. That helps show how big this print was." |
