The latest sightings have been reported at Droitwich and Inkberrow – although hard evidence of the big cats has yet to be forthcoming in Worcestershire.
However, DNA evidence from other parts of Britain, including Gloucestershire, suggests that a type of ‘Panthera pardus’ or wild ‘leopards’ are loose in the UK.
Hardened sceptics may not accept their existence until one of the wild animals is captured alive in the British countryside, a difficult task considering how elusive these powerful cats are.
WILD: Big cat sightings continue to be reported in Worcestershire every month (Image: Ryan Ladbrook)
Tales of big cats have become the stuff of legend in some corners of England from the Beast of Exmoor to the Demon of Dartmoor.
Judging by the volume of sightings here, will Worcestershire be the latest county to law claim to being the home of one of these magnificent predators? Only time will tell.
Fresh sightings follow one in in Harvington, near Evesham in December 2024 of a brownish ‘puma’.
This sighting followed another one at a similar location in September 2024, recounted in vivid detail in the Worcestershire Big Cat Group.
With a membership of close to 2,000 people now, the group logs sightings and other evidence (such as pawprints and prey kills), building up a strong picture of potential big cat sightings, appearance and behaviour.
DNA evidence already suggests the existence of a leopard in neighbouring Gloucestershire.
The latest post in the growing Facebook group said: “My friend thinks she saw one near Droitwich but didn’t have a phone at the time to get a picture.”
Another member said she was convinced a cat she had seen near Inkberrow a few weeks ago was ‘way too big to be a normal cat’.
Another member described a sighting between Kidderminster and Blakedown near a cottage. He estimated the cat was at least 4ft long and ‘perhaps closer to 5ft’. He was able to estimate the length by comparing it to tractor tyre tracks. However, this sighting was in 1999, so not as recent as many recorded in the group.
“The body of the cat was the length of the distance between the the tyres along the axle,” he added.
There were reports last week of a sighting on Thursday, November 14 last year on the A456 between Tenbury Wells and Kidderminster.
A witness described a loud growling sound which scared her two powerful dogs in 2024 in Gorse Hill and Elbury Mount Nature Reserve in Worcester.
One of her dogs is a female 65kg Sarplaninac guardian herding dog from Bosnia which she said was ‘bred to fight wolves, coyotes and mountain lions’ and ‘to protect cattle’.
There is now genetic evidence of these leopards in two corners of England, one in Gloucestershire which shares a border with Worcestershire, and the other in Cumbria in north west England.
In 2022, strands of black animal hair were found on a barbed wire fence in Gloucestershire and there have been a number of recent sightings on the Gloucestershire and Worcestershire border.
A forensic laboratory then analysed it using mitochondrial DNA methods to ascertain a 99.9 per cent match to the leopard species ‘Panthera Pardus’ (a leopard).
In October 2023, Cumbrian resident Sharon Larkin-Snowden came across the carcass and disturbed the animal that had been feeding on it.
Larkin-Snowden took swabs from the sheep’s nose and back and front legs, and they were sent to a laboratory at the University of Warwick which specialises in testing for big cat DNA run by Prof Robin Allaby.
Allaby told BBC Wildlife that it was very hard to lift DNA from swabs taken from carcasses but there was no doubt in this case.
The University of Warwick has since confirmed the accuracy of the accounts published so far.
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He said: “I have remained somewhat open-minded and not overly invested in the big cat story.”
He added: “We spent those 13 years continually disappointing Rick Minter — who has long been involved in tracking sightings of big cats and trying to assemble evidence of their existence in the UK — with identifications of fox or dog. Until, that is, this sample from the Lake District in October last year.
“In this case, the DNA sequence is 100 per cent unequivocally of the Panthera genus,” Dr Allaby told The Telegraph.
“This means that while the sequence is almost identical to panther (Panthera pardus), there is this one base difference which means scientifically that we must restrict ourselves to calling it as Panthera genus rather than the specific species.”
He added: “I find the data we have quite convincing. I’m 99 per cent plus persuaded that our hit is genuine from a panther in Cumbria. What do I think ate the sheep? Panthera pardus, a panther.”
Possible sightings have now been noted in 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.
Other evidence includes the carcasses of mauled sheep, possibly preyed upon by a large predator.