A cyclist has claimed they were bitten by 'puma' in area known for big cat sightings. A total of 28 people called police to report spotting pumas, cheetahs, leopards, and even lions in 2022, new figures show.
Among them was a cyclist near Downham Market in Norfolk who said the beast attacked them. In the same area, dogs were reportedly attacked by a “three-foot tall wild cat”.
According to a Freedom of Information request from The Sun, almost 30 people claimed to have spotted big cats roaming across the country.
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A Savannah cat was spotted near Bolsover in Derbyshire and someone in London even claims to have seen a suspiciously “large cat without a tail” sneaking into Hyde Park. There were also two Savannah cats seen in Barnet, while officials from Cambridgeshire Police confirmed two reports of something resembling a panther.
And a person in Leicestershire called the police to say she had spotted a lion at the bottom of her garden after hearing a “commotion”. The highest number of cases came in Kent, where five big cats were spotted – although it was not detailed exactly what they were.
The last actual evidence of a big cat in the UK came in 2011 when experts from Durham University tested hairs found in north Devon. Those samples proved the existence of a leopard living in the area, while two deer carcasses tested in Gloucestershire a year later proved that only foxes were living in the area despite reports of a big cat being responsible for the grim findings.
Animal tracker Rhoda Watkins told the Daily Star last year: “I am absolutely convinced we have big cats in the UK. The evidence is there, the science is there. We’re starting to get access to DNA analysis and forensic science, which is really useful.
“But what’s convinced me is the evidence of the bones. When a big cat kills something it leaves tooth impressions in the bones of the animal it has been eating.”
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