cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18609824

‘Big cats’ were spotted near a farm but the animals ran off before the witness could take a photo to prove once and for all the legends of ‘leopards on the loose’.

The latest sightings both took place on Saturday night many miles apart at Woodmancote, near Defford, and at Eastham between Great Witley and Tenbury Wells.

The sighting at Eastham was so sudden and surprising, the driver said it caused him to swerve the car slightly in shock.

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A witness said: "I saw two big cats in Woodmancote near Defford crossing the road last night opposite Copeland Court Farm.

"They were definitely big type cats. I stopped my van but they ran off into fields before I could get photos. I probably couldn’t have got a decent shot because it was dark.

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“I’d say they was about the size of a big dog.”

Meanwhile, a further sighting has been described in Eastham which is out towards Tenbury Wells, also on Saturday night, at 7.48pm.

Writing on the Evesham and Villages Big Cat Group, the witness said: “A large black cat was spotted by myself entering a field in Eastham (WR15) on Saturday night. I saw the rear end of an animal approximately 18 to 24 inches tall. It was way too big to be a domesticated cat and it wasn’t a dog or any other normally seen animal. The animal caused me to swerve slightly when I saw it due to its size.”

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The shocking sightings of large leopard-like cats have been reported as recently as this year in Harvington, near Evesham and others date back 20 years.

Possible sightings have now been noted in Harvington (this year), Gorse Hill and Elbury Mount Local Nature Reserve, Aldington (between Offenham and Badsey), near Kidderminster, near The Walshes in Stourport, Upton Snodsbury, Powick, Madresfield, the Lenchford Inn at Shrawley, Bewdley, Bentley (near Bromsgrove) and Stoke Prior.

Many of these encounters are in Worcestershire’s wildest tracts of country. However, not all are in remote areas with one dog walker describing how she fled a Worcester nature reserve with her two powerful dogs, one of which was bred to fight wolves.