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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
World
Lisa Letcher

'Big cat' caught on camera in West Country after Storm Noa

Video footage appears to show a big cat prowling around the outskirts of moorland in the West Country. Tourists from Frome on holiday in Cornwall captured the 'creature' on video.

The clip, which is over a minute in length, shows the black cat casually walking around a field near St Neot, between Bodmin and Liskeard. The man who recorded the footage said he spotted a number of wild-looking 'normal' cats during his recent trip - but says this one was different, reports Cornwall Live.

He estimated the cat was at least double the size of an ordinary domestic cat and described it as fitting the description of the Beast of Bodmin Moor. He said its tail was so distinctive "it had a life of its own".

Read more: 'Big cats live among us and I don't care if you don't believe it'

Tom O'Shea used to live in Cornwall and having often heard of the legends of big cats roaming the moors, jumped at the chance to record the "unusual-looking feline". After consulting a friend he believes it could have been a jaguarundi wild cat - some of which are kept in captivity in Cornwall.

"I managed to get a video of it and have since shown it to someone who has a knowledge of animals," Dr O'Shea said. "He suspects that it is a jaguarundi based on the details in the video."

The 35-year-old said it would be "unusual" if it were but "not totally out of the realm of reason". "We were quite excited by this as this would certainly fit with past reports of the beast and we can attest to the creature we saw being roughly double the size of an average domestic cat with a much thicker and longer tail.

"That said, we did also see a number of rather wild-looking but definitely 'normal' cats wandering about the place during our stay.

"What was really kind of distinctive about it is that it was definitely much longer than your average domestic cat and had really bizarre markings on it," he continued. It was really unusual and after a few seconds of looking at it straight on, it moved in a really unusual way as well. It didn't move like a usual cat."

He said the "creature" emerged from a hedgerow during Storm Noa and appeared again the following day when he caught it on video. "Its tail almost had a life of its own," he added.

What do you think of the footage? Let us know in the comments below.

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