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.
“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.”
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.
