SCHOOLGIRL Kim Howells had a 15th birthday to remember after coming face to face with a big cat.
The Heywood pupil fled in terror after being pursued by the panther in woods near Ruspidge.
Kim was walking with her cousin Sophie Gwynne, eight, at around 8.30pm on Monday when they came across the beast lying beneath a tree.
She said: "I saw something out of the corner of my eye and at first I thought it was a log or something. We carried on walking but then I looked back and it was sitting up looking at me."
Kim said the cat was about the size of a Great Dane, black all over with big eyes and paws and a long tail. She said it was about 15metres away from them and there was no mistaking what it was.
She said: "It was definitely a big cat. I've seen boar in the Forest before and it definitely wasn't one of them. What makes me sure is that it was still light so I could see it really clearly."
As the girls walked away the creature started following them along the path.
Kim said: "Sophie was asking what it was and then we looked behind us and it was about five metres away, following us.
"I didn't know what to do so we cut through the brambles and just started running."
The girls ran all the way back to Kim's home in Ruspidge.
Kim's mum Cathy said: "They were in a real state, their feet were all cut and Sophie was in tears.
"Kim is a very sensible girl and if that's what she says she saw, that's what it is."
Cathy later showed Kim a picture of a panther on the internet and she confirmed that was what she saw.
Cathy says she has now has second thoughts about letting her daughter and niece play in the woods.
She said: "I used to think that they were much better off there than a public park or somewhere but now I'm not sure, it is a real worry."
It is not the first time a big cat sighting has been reported near Ruspidge.
In June 2007, milkman Robert Brinton got an early morning wake-up call when he encountered a big cat in Railway Road.
Earlier the same year, firefighter Peter Bishop reported a black cat sighting in Cinderford and a lorry driver from Lydney saw one on Valley Road.
(submitted by Chad Arment)
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