Gloucestershire: 'Big cat' seen at a fishing lake in Haresfield
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Paul Johnson claimed he saw the wild animal and took pictures of the feline in Haresfield, Gloucestershire. The fisherman made the sighting last Sunday after spotting it from around 300 yards away.
Mr Johnson said he was left stunned after seeing the large feline casually walking along the hedgerow across the lake from where they were sat.
The spotter and a friend saw the animal at around 9.45am from 300 yards away, he said.
He told Gloucestershire Live: “My friend and I were at Haresfield fisheries and we watched the big cat walk across the hedge line down towards a track.
“It was not stalking anything, just walking along.”
Mr Johnson admitted his pictures of the animal weren’t the clearest, but was stunned at the size of the suspected big cat.
He said: “I work building fences and that, so going by the picture I can make an estimate of its size.
“I would say it was not quite a metre long. I did think it was quite random when I saw it.
“It went and sat down and was quite chilled out for about ten minutes before it went down the track.
“I was not scared of it, but I would not exactly have walked up to it either.”
Cornwall Live reported on a spate of big cat sightings, with expert Rhoda Watkins telling the outlet the rise may be down to more people enjoying the countryside.
Ms Watkins, set to star in a new documentary film ‘Britain’s Big Cat Mystery’, investigated a sighting of a lynx in a field Coombe near St Austell.
She said: “The increase in sightings is due in part to the sunny weather meaning more people – and cats – are out and about.
“Plus I think that since Covid people are generally out in nature more, and more interested in our wildlife.
“So naturally when they see something that shouldn’t be there they are curious and want to find out more.
“I do also think that there’s been more about big cats in the media.”
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