Cameras set to snap ‘Rutland Panther’

Movement triggered cameras are being set up to capture images of a large black cat seen in rural Rutland.

The area is known for sightings of a big cat dubbed by locals as the Rutland Panther.

Motorist Peter Base is the latest person to claim to have seen “a black cat-like creature” which he described as “bigger than my large Alsatian”.

The cat walked across the road in front of his car as he passed Greetham Valley Golf Club, in Rutland.

The panther has been blamed by farmers for several sheep deaths over the past two years, where animals have been found with their carcasses horribly mutilated.

Mr Base said: “I was heading for the A1 when ‘this thing’ just walked across the road. It was jet black with a long tail and was bigger than my Alsatian. It then took a few leaps and was off into the woods. I’m the fourth person I know who has seen it.”

Big cat investigator Nigel Spencer, said this had been the first reported sighting for several months: “This could well be the Rutland Panther, but we don’t know where they go. There are woods all the way from Rutland to Bourne, in Lincolnshire. Triggered cameras are now being set up to try and obtain some footage.”

The sighting in Rutland comes after police in Scotland issued a warning telling the public not to approach a “very large, muscular black cat with a square-shaped head” spotted twice in the Sutherland area.