Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think friend was mistaken about seeing a 'black panther' behind my house?

171 replies

HourOrTwo · 15/04/2015 15:57

So last week friend turned up on my doorstep in a right state, saying she'd just seen a 'black panther' run across road and disappear into field behind my house!! I said it must have been a dog or badger but she no it was definitely a big black cat. She was very upset and shaken (left her bike in road and ran to my house on foot, would not tell me what was wrong until we were inside!)

FYI we live in a rural area, only one other house nearby. Our garden backs onto fields with woods nearby. Road is more of a lane, hardly any traffic.

Friend said she'd cycled round bend in road when big black cat about 5ft long with a long tail ran into road about 10m from her, she braked, cat froze and 'snarled' at her then ran rest of way across. She saw it go through hedge then lost sight of it. She said it sort of 'slunk' across moving low to ground and had a strange shaped head. I can't think of anything else to fit this description, any ideas?

I told her it had to be a big black dog but she was having none of it, insists it was a big cat. Apparently it moved like a cat. She doesn't have any vision problems, she wasn't drunk or anything (I did wonder at first). She does get scared easily though and can be bit hysterical e.g. she is scared of wasps and dogs. She wanted to phone police but I talked her out of it and when DH came home he gave her a lift home.

Thing is DH has taken this seriously!!! He won't let DD (7) play in garden unsupervised, has cut back all bushes around house and won't let me walk DD to school (2-mile walk through fields). He also reported it to police though unsurprisingly they declined to investigate. They said there haven't been any other sightings. DH has been examining garden 'for signs'. Last night he thought he heard 'a big cat coughing' (!!!) when he was standing at end of garden. Naturally he didn't see it.

AIBU to think this is all crazy and my friend must have made a mistake?

OP posts:
fairyfuckwings · 15/04/2015 21:57

What happens to the dead bodies though? If they've been around since the 70's surely quite a few would be dead now. You'd think someone would have found one of their bodies by now? Or do they get eaten? Or is the theory that they just get quietly disposed of by the police?

I do find this quite fascinating!

londonrach · 15/04/2015 21:58

Thanks dixie for evening it out. I really wish id had the camera with me that day. Mind you i froze so not sure id taken a picture...

londonrach · 15/04/2015 22:01

Fairy you dont want the answer to that. Let just say nature doesnt waste much.... Also where i was was huge woods and be like looking for a needle in a haystack... The deer had completely gone the next day. Every bone too!

StrongAsAnOx · 15/04/2015 22:01

Gosh - there's a thought FFW! Then on the other hand, they are likely to be shy aren't they, so presumably die somewhere discreet. I wonder where wild cats sleep. Do people see dead wild cats in Scotland (i.e. the little ones)? I do often see dead deer in ditches and such like - I'd never even thought that they might have been killed by prey. Deer are now so prolific around here that they would be rich pickings for a large wild cat. Especially young deer.

fairyfuckwings · 15/04/2015 22:02

Ah I see - so nature takes care of it pretty quickly then!

DixieNormas · 15/04/2015 22:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RescueRangers · 15/04/2015 22:21

There have been a few bodies - one hit by a car, another skull found by a farmer, and a couple captured or shot. Not black panthers though.

I would be interested to know what breeding capabilities big cats have - can they interbreed? I may be wrong, but I thought that interbred domestic cats have a fairly high likelihood of producing black-coated offspring? (Hence so many unhomeable black cats in rescue) Could this be the reason for so many black sightings?

HelenF350 · 15/04/2015 22:21

It's a shame none of the articles that are linked in this page are available (it's clearly quite old) but these are all from my neck of the woods, a lot in 2002 which was when my mum saw one (along with her friend who was with her). The one I saw was about 3 or 4 years ago.

FyreFly · 15/04/2015 22:24

I thought I saw one disappearing into a hedge and through to a field once.

However I do think that if there really was a population big enough to be breeding in the UK we'd have noticed regular attacks on livestock and more regular sightings, accompanied by proper photos / video evidence. Especially round farms, which usually have excellent CCTV.

I think the likelihood is I misinterpreted what I saw (although it did spook me! It looked very real.) but I suppose there is a slim chance that there are big cats out there. I personally err on the side of scepticism though.

tearsofrobertsmith · 15/04/2015 22:25

A puma was captured near Inverness in 1980. She lived the rest of her years in Highland Wildlife Park then was stuffed and she resides in the local museum. Google FELICITY THE PUMA.......

AIBU to think friend was mistaken about seeing a 'black panther' behind my house?
KingJoffreyFanciesDarylDixon · 15/04/2015 22:28

I don't think a Felicity is a good name for a puma...

I'd call her Luna.

RescueRangers · 15/04/2015 22:32

Lara the Lynx, captured in 2001

orangefusion · 15/04/2015 22:33

One of my friends saw this one in Lancashire.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244693/Pictured-The-mystery-Buckshaw-Beast-savaging-animals-terrorising-villagers.html

cinders456 · 15/04/2015 22:34

Someone I know in the Sussex area (fairly rural) saw one..

feckitall · 15/04/2015 22:39

www.panmacmillan.com/book/victorcanning/therunaways

This story is very apt...I first read it as a child and bought a copy for DH as he is from the area in which it is set..

cinders456 · 15/04/2015 22:40

Orange to me, that pic resembles a wild boar possibly...?

HelenF350 · 15/04/2015 22:42

Just realised I forgot to post the link in my last post! Baby brain! scotcats.online.fr/abc/sightings/bycounty/aberdeenshire.html

StrongAsAnOx · 15/04/2015 22:49

Helen - surprising that there are no sightings in the last 10 years.

deste · 15/04/2015 22:49

I saw one a few years ago and it was broad daylight. I was about 100 yards away from it and I have no doubt about what I saw. We were driving back in the Aberdeenshire area. I have just noticed the post above.

deste · 15/04/2015 22:52

Helen where did you see yours? It was about four years ago I saw one coming back from Ballater.

HelenF350 · 15/04/2015 22:53

Strong the website is clearly old, the links no longer work. It was to show how common these sightings generally are.

HelenF350 · 15/04/2015 22:58

The one I saw was the other side of Aberdeen, near Oldmeldrum. There have been many reports of sightings over the years in this area.

StrongAsAnOx · 15/04/2015 23:00

Ah I see Helen. Sorry. I am not skeptical. I know what I saw near where I live and I think it is quite plausible that these animals are released by unscrupulous exotic pet owners. More interesting is the question over whether they then breed in the UK. I think that to be very unlikely.

HelenF350 · 15/04/2015 23:05

I agree strong. It seems that these sightings increased massively in the mid 70's when it became illegal to keep them. It is feasible that some were released into the wild. Possibly also that some have crossbred with wildcats I would imagine?

SistersofPercy · 15/04/2015 23:10

Just to fuck up the every woman in the UK has seen one argument, I haven't.

Then again, if I were a panther or such like I'd not come to Stoke either.
I have seen the wallabies up in the leek moorlands though Grin