Panther
© UnknownBeast: A panther-like creature was spotted by two men out walking their dogs.
Two Worcester men had the fright of their lives when they spotted a panther-like creature while walking their dogs.

The sighting has once again raised the spectre of mystery black cats roaming the Worcestershire countryside.

Wilson Hunt and Isaac Biddle were in a field by Grove Farm, St John's, on Saturday morning when something large and black in the undergrowth caught their eye.

The men went to investigate but the cat got up, jumped into the undergrowth and disappeared.

"It was definitely a cat but not a domestic one, it was huge," said stonemason Mr Hunt.

They spotted the creature as the pair walked their two whippets and terrier close to the Christmas tree farm off Bromyard Road.

"Something lying in the grass caught my eye and when we went back we could see it lying there," said Mr Hunt, aged 25, of Broadway Grove, Dines Green, Worcester.

"It was bigger than our dogs, perhaps the size of an alsatian.

"It was jet black and had a tail that was curled up. It looked at us, its ears pricked up and it jumped back into the undergrowth.

"It was really chunky and definitely had cat features, they were not dog ears. It was too agile and quick to be anything other than a cat.

"We were about 80ft away from it and I am 100 per cent certain it was not a dog."

Scrap dealer Mr Biddle, aged 37, of Williams Close, Dines Green, Worcester, said: "It was pretty big, it was definitely no dog.

"I do quite a lot of walking and I have never seen anything like it before."

Bob Lawrence, director of wildlife at West Midland Safari Park, Bewdley, said: "It is possible there may be one or two of these animals around and they could survive in this climate.

"It would probably have been a leopard or a jaguar, probably a leopard as they survive far better in the English climate.

"But with the law of averages there would be a picture somewhere; where is the evidence?"

It is not the first time that big cats have been spotted in Worcester and the surrounding area.

In 2006, a survey compiled by the British Big Cats Society showed there were 48 sightings in Herefordshire and Worcestershire between April 2004 and July 2005, making the counties a hotspot for mystery sightings.

In April 2000, a man came face to face with a big black cat in woods near Ledbury. A year later an enormous paw print was found on a car near Bringsty Common, near Bromyard.

In October 2003 a four-foot long creature was seen between Feckenham and Droitwich and in August 2004 a large black cat was spotted in the same area.

It is not just sightings that have been reported. In October 2001 a farm worker was injured when a mysterious big black cat knocked him from his bike near Droitwich.

A spokesman for south Worcestershire police said: "There do not appear to be any reports of big cat sightings reported to the police in the last few months."

Big Cats: The Facts

Big cats were kept as household pets during the 1970s

In 1976, the Government introduced the Dangerous Wild Animals Act to regulate the keeping of these animals

Fees and strict conditions of the act encouraged people to abandon their pets and many were released into the wild

It is thought a number of these have survived and live on a diet of rabbits, sheep and small deer.

Farmers across Worcestershire have reported attacks on their livestock

Big cat regimental mascots belonging to the American and Canadian armies based in Britain were released prior to D-Day.