12:00pm Monday 16th August 2010
By Catherine Bolado
THE Beast of Dorset has made another appearance near Crossways.
Pam Massey, of Crossways, and Molly Parkin and her mother Jenny Parkin, of East Dulwich, London, were driving from Bovington to Crossways on a minor road late at night.
Miss Parkin and her mother were visiting their friend on holiday and the group were hoping to spot some deer as they drove slowly down the lanes near Pallington.
What they didn’t expect was to come face-to-face with the Beast of Dorset.
Miss Parkin said she had never heard the stories about the ‘beast’ – an animal resembling a black panther which has been seen across Dorset from Bockhampton to Chickerell and on Ridgeway Hill.
Miss Parkin, 32, said: “We were out looking for deer and I think there was a little hill in front of us as we drove because I didn’t see it until it was right in front of me.
“It looked like a huge black cat.
“It was creeping along the road close to the ground. It looked like a panther.”
She added: “I thought that things can get distorted at night, but it was too big to be a cat.
“We saw a domestic cat further down the road and it was tiny in comparison.
“I thought it was a bit strange and it’s not something you expect to see but then I heard the stories and I had no doubt about what I’d seen.
“It’s very exciting.”
The animal was seen on the road on Tuesday, August 10, and disappeared up a farm driveway.
Mrs Massey was driving the car, but didn’t see the panther.
She said: “I drove into the driveway to follow it with my headlights, but we couldn’t see anything.
“The lights were on in the house, but I didn’t want to disturb them so we left.”
She added: “A little later we saw a woman walking a dog so I stopped to tell her and she said she would pass on the message.”
Mrs Massey said that she wondered if the creature had escaped from a circus years ago and whether it was alone or if there was more than one.
Author and big cat researcher Merrily Harpur of Frampton said Crossways was a ‘hotspot’ for big cat activity.
She said: “One thing about big cats is that they don’t seem to be dangerous to human beings.
“Over the many decades of big cat research no-one has been hurt by them.”
She added: “The jury is still out as to what they are and where they disappear to. It’s an honest to goodness mystery.
“I don’t want people to be anxious about taking county walks.
“These cats are clearly not like the African leopards, which could be dangerous.
“We are looking at a very different style and temperament and not something to worry about.”
To report sightings of the Beast of Dorset email Merrily Harpur at research@dorsetbigcats.org
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/8333752.Beast_of_Dorset_makes_another_appearance___in_Crossways/
(via Dark Dorset)
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