The legendary ‘Beast of Rutland’ has been spotted prowling a field by a stunned woman who was so shocked she ran inside to grab her phone and film it.
Mel Barnes saw a panther-like cat padding across a stubble field at dusk.
The 55-year-old Quality Improvement Lead said the animal was much bigger than a domestic cat and that she had never seen anything like it before.
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The sighting happened in Deenethorpe village, Northamptonshire, around 10 miles south of Rutland.
It looked too big for a domestic cat,” Mel, a quality improvement lead, told What’s The Jam.
“I was so shocked by what I was seeing I had to run back in the house for my phone.
“It was 15 feet away from me.
“I probably won’t ever see this again.
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“You had to be there.
“I know what a domestic cat looks like and I wouldn’t have darted into the house to get my phone just for a moggy.
“I have never in my life seen what I suspect looked like a panther – and will probably never see one again.”
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Northamptonshire Police confirmed they received a report from a member of the public who believed they had seen a large cat in the Deenethorpe area.
A spokesman for Northants Police said: “We received a report from a member of the public who believed they had seen a large cat in the Deenethorpe area.”
There has been a history of big cat sightings across Northamptonshire and nearby Rutland over the years.
Sightings of large feral cats have been reported for decades, with a £500 reward offered in 1996 for proof “beyond doubt” that a black panther-type animal was on the loose in East Northamptonshire.
In 2003, a big cat was reportedly seen by a bus driver near the A6116 close to the Aldwincle turn.
The same year, another motorist spotted a big black cat with yellow eyes in the road near Gretton.
In 2004, there were six reported sightings across the area in just two weeks.
There was also a sighting of a big cat in Wellingborough in 2008.
And in 2012, a couple walking their dog in Wakerley Woods reportedly came face-to-face with a big cat they said looked like a panther.
The witness described the animal as being about two or three times bigger than her dog, scruffy-looking and with yellow eyes.
