Big cat is making tracks for Moira

by ADRIAN JENKINS

JUST when you thought it was safe to go back into the countryside, the big cat is back — and this time it is making its mark.

The evidence can be seen clearly in this striking paw print left in the soft earth in Moira.

Too big for a dog, and far too large for a domestic cat, it is almost the size of a human hand.

The impressions left by the claws alone indicate that they are several inches long, suggesting a predator of considerable size.

Dog walker Jenny Worthington said the image was captured by a mobile phone close to where she spotted a ‘panther-like’ creature.

She is in no doubt what was responsible.

“I was out walking my dog last night in Moira and I definitely saw the big cat,” she said.

The sighting is not the first time the big beast has scared someone.

Numerous examples include the spotting of a panther-like creature in Swadlincote’s Eureka Park in September, 2006.

Four months earlier, a youngster told police he had seen the animal in a park off Church Street, in Coton in the Elms.

Similar sightings have also been reported in Measham, Moira, Donisthorpe, Boundary, Bretby, Church Gresley, Castle Gresley, Linton, Stapenhill, Woodville and Midway.

In May, 2006, the Mail reported that Bob and Irene Brown, of Willington, claimed to have seen a big cat, which they described as ‘jet black with a long, swinging tail that sweeps the ground’, four times in 18 months.

Mr Brown said: “It’s like telling someone you’ve seen a spaceship. I was glad when my wife saw it too, because at least then I had someone to back me up.”

His wife said: “I did think Bob was having me on when kept saying he’d seen this panther, and when I eventually saw it, I couldn’t quite believe it for a minute or two. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was scary.”

The most recent sighting will only add to the history of the big, black cat, which is as mysterious as the creature itself.

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