Big cat man stalks beast of Stroud

Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 08:00

Big cat tracker Frank Tunbridge is lying in wait to capture the secretive felines on film following a sighting on the A419.

His sights are firmly set on a stretch between Stroud and Chalford where a large black cat was seen crossing the road at the same point several times late last month.

Frank sits in a lay-by, armed only with his digital camcorder, waiting for the beast to show up.

He also has trip cameras set up in Minchinhampton and Eastcombe in an effort to document the big cats he has been tracking for 20 years.

"Three weeks ago I was told of a sighting near Chalford where the cat crossed the road early on a Sunday morning," said Frank, who runs car boot sales at Kemble Airfield and checks out the site as often as he can.

"It fitted the description of so many other sightings – a black cat, sleek, with a small head, long tail and about the size of a Labrador dog."

He believes a sighting in Eastcombe was of a lynx but the Chalford cat and another in Minchinhampton was of an animal fitting his description.

"They could be pumas but, judging from the same descriptions people who have seen them are reporting, they could be developing into a species of their own," said Mr Tunbridge.

He says many big cats were let loose by their owners during the two world wars as an alternative to shooting them when meat was rationed.

Frank believes the 1976 Dangerous Animals Act, which toughened up laws on keeping wild animals, made it too expensive for owners who, rather than having them put down, freed them.

Around a dozen big cats are at large in Gloucestershire, he believes.

Frank, who lives in Podsmead, Gloucester, said: "There are more sightings at this time of year because the females are in season and the males take more risks to move about."

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/stroud/news/Big-cat-man-stalks-beast-Stroud/article-723308-detail/article.html