Panther
© Unknown
The Beast of Tynedale is back - and unfortunately for one Prudhoe farmer, it appears to be feeding time.

Stewart Pittendrigh, of Bradley Hall Farm, found two of his calves had been killed by a creature large enough to consume all but the head and legs.

He is now believes that either Tynedale's infamous black cat has struck again, or that a wild boar has strayed from its rumoured habitat around Prudhoe Hospital.

The theory that it could be the black cat has already been given some credence by a local policeman, who claims to have seen the animal on the prowl in the area.

Bradley Hall Farm lies just off the A695, near the Prudhoe bypass, and encompasses 300 acres, containing around 400 cattle and sheep.

It was while Mr Pittendrigh, (39), was checking his stock on Saturday morning that he noticed a calf was missing.

"I thought it must have been asleep somewhere, but then I came across the carcass - all that was left of it was the head, the four legs and a piece of skin lying over it," he said

"I thought it was a bit strange, but I imagined it might have died during the night and that foxes or something like that had eaten it. So I kind of passed the first incident off."

On checking the stock again on Monday morning, however, he discovered another calf was missing.

He found that animal lying in the same mutilated condition.

"Everything had gone from the middle - there was not a picking of meat that had not been eaten away," he said.

"That's when I really started thinking about things; it's not natural for something like this to happen twice in three days.

"I didn't see anything, but I know we used to have wild boar in the woods around Prudhoe Hospital.

"The other explanation is that it could be a black cat.

"That could just be a myth, but I reported the incidents to the police and the officer I spoke to said he had seen the creature with his own eyes."

Mr Pittendrigh, who has been farming for most of his life, said he had never heard of any such attacks before.

His father, who also works on the farm, as well as several neighbouring farmers have been left equally mystified.

Mr Pittendrigh will now have to pay to have the carcasses disposed of.

A spokesman for Northumbria police said: "We did receive a report of two calves being found dead on farmland at this farm.

"There is no evidence of any offences, although details have been passed to the Farmwatch co-ordinator for the area in case any stray dogs are reported."

Rochester farmer and National Farmers' Union North-East head of livestock Malcolm Corbett said the attacks seemed "really strange", particularly as it was usually sheep that fell victim to predatory animals.