The Beast of Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor, with its brooding atmosphere and mysterious stone circles has inspired many legends.

There have been numerous reported sightings of a big cat on Bodmin Moor since as far back as the 1980's. In the early 1990's, when farmers found their animals savaged, speculation began to circulate in the national press as to whether a big cat, a panther or perhaps a leopard was living wild on the moor. Photographers had captured on film what appeared to be a large catlike creature prowling the moor in the gathering dusk.

There have been around sixty big cat sightings recorded in the area since 1983. The beast is described by those claiming to have seen it as looking like a Black Panther or big cat with large white-yellow eyes and it's size ranges from 3-5 feet long for the body, with a tail of roughly 18-24 inches. The creature makes the usual hissing and growling sounds of a large cat such as a panther but has also been reported to have made noises which sound like a woman screaming.

The Ministry of Agriculture commissioned an investigation in 1995, which concluded that there was 'no verifiable evidence' that the beast existed, and concluded that that the mauled sheep could have been attacked by animals common in Briitain. However the government report also stated that "the investigation could not prove that a 'big cat' is not present.".

Despite their report many of the locals remain convinced that there a big cat, or perhaps a number of them, roaming wild on the moor. In October 1997, officials from Newquay Zoo claimed to identify pawprints left in mud to the south of Bodmin Moor as the tracks of a puma.

Shortly afterwards, the skull of a big cat with large fangs was in fact discovered in the River Fowey by a fourteen year old boy and sent to the Natural History Museum for identification, who following a thorough examination revealed it to be that of a young Indian leopard. However, closer inspection revealed that inside the skull was the egg case of a tropical cockroach, a species that cannot possibly survive in the wild in Britain, the back of the skull contained knife marks, such as can often be found on leopard skin rugs. The museum therefore concluded that far from being the remains of the Beast of Bodmin Moor the skull had in fact been taken from a leopard-skin rug.

Video footage was released in August, 1998, of a large cat measuring around three feet as evidence that the beast does exist. Some authorities believe it could be a species of wild cat thought to have become extinct in Britain over a century ago.