Mar 19 2009 By Matt Lloyd
Further, startling evidence of a big cat stalking deer on Cannock Chase has emerged this week.
A photo taken by Richie Cooper near the Birches Valley Road is the latest in a series of dead deer to be found on our doorstep.
Too graphic for The Post to publish, the photo shows the stricken animal with a large bite taken out of its throat, leading Richie to believe rumours of the Chase Panther could be rooted in fact.
He came across the deer when walking his dog on March 14.
Led to the corpse by his curious pet, Richie was shocked at the site.
On recent big cat reports Richie said: “I was sceptical, having lived in the edge of the Chase all my life, but I had to pause for thought when I came across the carcass.
“My dog Freddie led me to it, he was fascinated by smelling it.
“My initial thoughts from 20-meters away was that it had been shot as the gruesome detail wasn’t clear to me, but as I got closer and closer I knew that was less and less likely as I could see more and more blood, bones and muscular waste.
“It was a hideous sight to behold and made me sick to my stomach, it had clearly been killed by a vicious bite to the neck and the abdomen had been mutilated as well, almost like it had been gnawed upon.
“It was utterly repulsive.
“There can be no other explanation for this other than it being a large cat of some kind. All I know is the deer didn’t stand a chance.
“I often walk my dog around there on the weekends but I never ever expected this.”
Danny Bamping, founder of Big Cats In Britain, said the bite mark was very cat-like adding big cats often kill with a bite to the neck, killing prey outright or snapping the neck.
What do you think? Is there a big cat on the Chase? Have you say on our forum pages at www.chasepost. net or email matt_lloyd@mrn.co.uk
Unless somebody is missing a big cat kept as a pet or from a zoo, it is more likely to have been done by stray dogs that form into packs and pull down prey animals. If not alot of this animal was eaten, they might've been scared off by humans approaching. Britain has been settled for thousands of years so little of it is unknown. This should be investigated by trackers to find the predators before they attack a child or someone's pet or farm stock.
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