Large 'cat' photographed near woodland

A photograph showing a panther-like cat sitting near woodland is the best evidence yet that large animals are roaming the countryside, experts claim.

Paul Keehn snapped the big cat on his mobile phone after spotting it sitting by a fence near
residential homes which backed onto woods and fields. Photo: KNS NEWS
Electrician Paul Keehn, 35, claims he snapped the creature on his mobile phone after spotting it sitting by a fence near residential homes which backed onto woods and fields.

Mr Keehn took the photograph and then ran inside flats where he was working to tell the landlord but by the time the pair came back the panther-sized animal had disappeared.

Britain's leading big cat expert Di Francis, who wrote Cat Country:The Quest for the British Big Cat, said: "If this photo is genuine it is the best ever photo of a British Big Cat taken in Britain.

"It's a photograph that would be hard to disprove. I would prefer to have seen another photo of it to see that there's some movement to be sure.

"The appearance of the animal would appear to be correct for the characteristics of a British Big Cat. It's outline matches up with the evidence I have collected over the years.

"I think there is an indigenous species of Big Cat to Britain that is unknown to science. I think these Big Cats are prehistoric survivors that are so clever they have kept out of humans' way.

"As we encroach on the countryside it is inevitable we come into contact with them more.'

Miss Francis, 65, said that the white flash on the front of its body would prove that the photographed cat could not be a panther and pointed to it being an indigenous species.

Father-of-two Mr Keehn took the photo on March 26 at New Denham, near Uxbridge, Buckinghamshire.

He said: 'I was getting my tools out of my van when I saw a black object out of the corner of my eye.

"I was about 20 metres away and suddenly realised that it was massive cat. It didn't move at first and then turned its head.

"I took a photo of the cat and moved my van across the car park nearer the flat I was working in so I didn't have as far to walk in case it attacked me.

"When I went to get the bloke I was doing the work for I think he thought I was mad. By the time we came out it had gone."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5113650/Large-cat-photographed-near-woodland.html