Original headline:
Big cat sighting?
A chance sighting at the weekend has added credibility to police claims that big cats are at large in the Five Valleys.
Last week wildlife liaison officer Mark Robson said there was just too much evidence to dismiss the existence of jet-black leopards roaming wild.
Now Minchinhampton taxi driver George Hearn is backing the animal officer after watching a black beast glide across the road in front of his cab.
"I was driving back to Minchinhampton at about 12.30am on Friday night," he said. "And this cat glided across the road in front of me."
Mr Hearn said he had no doubt about what he had seen and, as a taxi driver often using the roads at unsociable hours, he has plenty of experience of seeing wildlife dart across the beam of his headlights.
"It moved far too fast to be a dog and it certainly wasn't a deer," he said. "It didn't stop to glare at me, it just glided across the road and disappeared into the hedge.
"It was jet black with no markings and it was quick. "I'm certain it was a black cat of some sort. "If I'd been going much faster I'd have hit it for sure."
The beast, which was spotted on the road between Aston Down and the Ragged Cot Inn, was about the size of a Labrador dog.
Mr Hearn said he believed there had been so few sightings because the exotic animals only tend to be out on the prowl when most of us are tucked up in bed.
"They are definitely out there," he said. "I suppose I'd believed the other people who said they had seen them but I hadn't taken much notice until I saw one myself."
