A BIG cat the size of a black panther could be to blame for some of about a dozen pet cats which have gone missing in the Tonedale area of Wellington in the last few weeks.

The WWN last week reported the cat disappearances in its front page story and this week Alex Bowler, who runs a website called My Big Cat Sightings (www.mybigcatsightings.com), said a big cat had been sighted in the area.

Mr Bowler has been told of a number of sightings of a large black cat around the village of Westford, at Beambridge, on the railway track near Wellington and on the Blackdowns, and believes it is likely some missing pets in the local area may have been taken by a big cat.

Alex, who lives in Somerset and claims to have seen big cats in the county on three occasions, said: “I have no doubt that big cats are on the loose in Somerset. On Christmas Eve 1985 my friend Bob Burnell and I were actually stalked by a black panther on Croydon Hill on our way back from Dunster when we briefly stopped to watch the trees blowing in a strong gale on top of the hill.

“It was about 12 feet away from us and creeping slowly towards us. I thank God we turned around just in time. The Royal Marines had been looking for a black panther, dubbed the Beast of Exmoor, and I believe we had our close encounter with the very cat they were looking for, although it’s possible more than one big cat was living on Exmoor at that time. It was a truly terrifying experience. This was my first big cat sighting.

“Sadly, I have heard reports of missing cats and dogs before in areas where big cats have been seen. I would urge the public to be watchful when walking in wooded areas and areas surrounded by thickets where big cats could be lurking.

“The area around the derelict Fox’s Mill, the thickets by the railway line and the wooded mill stream area nearby would make a perfect area for big cats to live and someone even told me that his dog had been absolutely terrified by something in that very vicinity.”

Mr Bowler said some former owners of leopards and other big cats had admitted they let them go in the countryside. He said he knows an expert on British big cats who has observed a female big cat and cubs in a wood in Dorset.

He said there had been scores of reported sightings of big cats living in the wild in Great Britain and many field signs such as hairs, scats, scrapes in the earth and claw marks on trees had been seen, and some hairs and scats that had been scientifically studied have been shown to have come from big cats.

Mr Bowler added: “A number of people have contacted me via my website to report their sightings of big cats in Somerset and only last week I received a report of a big cat seen in a field near South Chard.

“These elusive creatures are definitely living in the British countryside and keeping themselves to themselves in the main but from time to time our paths cross. This matter needs to be taken very seriously.”