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East Dorset sightings North Dorset sightings West Dorset sightings Information Index Home page and sightings form |
| Sightings from May to December 2004 are detailed below. For previous sightings in these areas go to the regional pages. For national sightings visit the Big Cats in Britain website, www.bigcatsinbritain.org Registering with this group gives you access to over 3,000 sightings, the biggest database in Britain and probably the world. Have you spotted one of
these big cats too? Please let me know on 01300 321316, or email me at
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On Friday 10 December 2004 the Dorset Echo reported: 'A
pensioner was left terrified after she encountered a huge black cat
while out walking her dog. Mrs
Gibson's sighting
prompted Mr K to contact the Dorset Big Cats Register with an incident
which happened to him this time last year: Mrs. A of Weymouth writes: 'On 26th October 2004 my daughter and I were driving through wooded country near Wareham, along a track which has undergrowth and trees on either side. Suddenly a huge black animal came out of the undergrowth a few yards in front of the car and leapt right from one side of the track to the other. We had a clear, close view of it. It was completely black and had large paws and a head like that of a domestic cat. It was bigger than a labrador (we used to have one) - about five and a half foot long - and was quite slender. I think it saw and heard the car and that is why it leapt to the other side instead of walking. It obviously had its route clear in its mind and it wanted to enter the woods which were on the other side of the road. My daughter and I were completely shocked and looked at each other in amazement. I then stopped the car because I was hoping to get a better look . We both got out and looked into the ferns on our right.Unfortunately we did not see the creature again and as we travelled back to Weymouth we agreed that getting out of the car had not been a wise thing to do considering the size of the creature. We were
shocked because the animal was not what you expect to see in the British
countryside - it was a bit alarming.' By
email. In November Richard Peacocke emailed me to say he had seen a black big cat while walking his dog near Crossways in January 2004 (see East Dorset sightings) and on 11th November this year at 21:27 hours he spotted it again, crossing a road. He
writes: 'It was a large, black cat, and in comparison with road
lines/kerb distance must have been some three metres long including the
tail. Tail signature low, like a puma, with a 'hunkered' neck and
shoulders in proportion to length. It was crossing the entry of Hybris
Business Park, Crossways, near Dorchester. The cat moved silently,
stealthy and confident, from left to right (towards Moigne Combe, the
site of the previous sighting) and slipped into the woods. My dog
followed the scent trail into woods but returned when he came to the
fence on the other side at the edge of a field.' By
email November 2004 - more news on the deer carcass found in a tree at Bulbarrow in 2002 - see North Dorset sightings 5th
October 2004, Wareham. Mr
Batchelor said: 'She spots deer before I do, so I looked to see what it
was. About 200 yards ahead, crossing the track, was a black,
Labrador-sized, cat-like animal'. He said
'What catches your eye is the gait of the animal - it was just
strolling. I don't think it was aware we were there. It had the typical,
very long, curved tail - the classic thing - and its style of walking
was definitive. He
was not afraid and hurried to the spot where the big cat had been but
there was no further sign of it. He looked for paw prints but the ground
was too dry.
14th September, 2004 Wimborne 2004. Wednesday 11th August, Dorchester Spencer Allen lives
in Oxfordshire and works in Dorset. He reports: 2004. 29th July. Milton Abbas - Bryanston - Nether Compton areas. The Dorset Echo - report by Jenna Weekes A BIG
cat has been reported roaming the north Dorset countryside near two
schools.The creature has been described as being similar to a leopard in
appearance and size and was seen late at night and in the early hours of
the morning in three locations around the county this month. Dorset
Police have received three reports of the big cat in just over a week.
It was first sighted close to Milton Abbas Primary School at around 2004.
St. Leonards / Ferndown |
| Monday
21st June 2004
Alan McNamee of Bothenhampton, near Bridport, reports an alarming experience - he writes: 'On
Monday evening of this week, at 11.15pm; I was working in my office, at
home, when I heard a very strange sound coming from the side of my
house. It was a sound that I had not heard before. At first I thought if
was foxes or badgers fighting, but this sound was of some animal in
great pain. I went down the stairs, all the time I could hear this awful
sound getting louder as I got nearer to the side door. I switched the
outside lights on and opened the door to the outside, normally it would
go quiet, and that would be the end to it; But it made no differance,
some thing behind the hedge was making this noise. First I found a stick
just outside the door, so I thew it in the direction of the noise, it
still made no impact. By this time I can remember saying to myself,
"What the hell is going on !" I walked slowly up the five
steps up to the hedge, which was moving backwards and forwards
very quickly. I could still not see anything, so then I lent over. My
god - less than 1 metre in front of me was a big cat! 'When
it saw me it gave a growl
which sounded deep and heavy, and chilled me to the bone. 'I ran back upstairs and rang the police, and reported what I had just witnessed. The cazy thing about all of this, is I'm a photographer, and for the last 2 years I have been trying to film sightings of the Cat - I never thought that it would come and visit me. 'At 11. 35pm I decided to film the area where I had seen the cat, which took a geat deal of will power! I lent over the hedge and took one shot, then went back into the house, went up stairs, opened the skylight window and took 2 random shots of the woods, hoping I would get something. At first I thought I had got nothing, but on looking greater detail some time later I noticed the red stains on the wall, from the first shot I took from leaning over hedge, it looked like a blood bath, then right in the centre of the picture, 2 of pink objects can be seen, I belive this to be flesh from the badger. I have sent this image to the picture editor at the Western Gazette, for this views on how best to get better detail from the image. 'On
Tuesday moring at 8. 15am the police arrived, we walked up into the
garden, and I was telling the officer about the cat, when the officer
looked down on some bonfire ash, and noticed a cat print, about the size
a closed fist, it was hard to see a detailed impression, because the
wind had blown in some of the sides. I later made up some paste
using floor and water, and using a syringe, managed to gently pumb in
the paste to the shape, then photographed it, together with a
measurement.' Source: witness's written
account
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| 2004.
Osmington Mills On 17th June a witness from Bristol reported the following sighting: 'On Sunday June 13th I was walking with my 16yr old son from Osmington Mills to Spring Bottom along the footpath. It was Source: witness's written account East Dorset sightings |
| 2004.
Marnhull. Saturday 29th May.
Chris and Derek Ormesher were walking the Stour Valley path at about 11.30am on that sunny morning, and were a few miles south of - and walking towards - Marnhull. Chris writes: 'We both saw a large, ginger animal walking away from the pond that we were passing, about fifty yards away. The animal had a long tail which was noticeably ringed with darker fur at the end, and had large pointed ears and markings on its legs. 'The tail behaved more like a lion's tail rather than a domestic cat tail, ie. it pointed downwards and then along the floor and swished as the animal walked. At first we were scared stiff because we initially thought it was bigger than it actually was. When we saw the tail, its shape and how it was moving, we thought it was a lion (which obviously it wasn't). It seemed to be about the size of a springer spaniel. It was walking slowy away from the pond, in broad daylight. It didn't seem worried when it spotted us. It turned its head to have a good look at us and then disappeared into a hedge. From looking at pictures on the internet it was definitely a Jungle Cat.' North Dorset sightings |
| 2004.
Yeovil. Thursday 27th May. Michelle Rowland reports an interesting sighting by her husband who set off to collect her from work that evening at 10pm. 'Our house and garden back on to a large field, and upon leaving the house by the back door my husband was shocked to see a large animal standing by the wire fence, but the other side of it. He estimated it to be around the size of a large Alsatian, but cat-like, and with white fur. It had a long tail and pointed ears.The animal was scared away and bounded off into the darkness with a cat-like movement.' North Dorset sightings |
| 2004.
Lyme Regis. 2nd May was a warm, sunny day, and at sometime between 4 and 7pm Andy Finlay and Alison Ludlam were out walking from Uplyme to Lyme Regis along the public footpath that hugs the River Lim. It is a well used and quite popular path. He reports: 'There is a field next to the river with a lot of sheep and lambs in it, also has families of wild rabbits. We were stopped looking at the lambs and the small rabbits, when I said to Alison "Look at the size of that dog, it moves like a cat!!" It was trotting diagonally down the hillside, very fast, very close to the ground, not stalking the way a domestic cat does, but moving very quickly. It came to within 50m of us when it noticed us and - upon seeing us - it turned 90 degrees without stopping, and disappeared into some cover behind some bushes at the edge of the field. We stood still hoping to see a further glimpse of whatever it was. But nothing, though we waited for about 15 minutes. I figured it was more scared of us than us of it. It was a very dark brown but this colour was not uniform across the body, there were lighter patches of fur. The length of its body was about 5-6 feet, and the length of the tail about 2 feet.' |
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