Original headline: Experts debate significance of Furness big cat pictures
MYSTERY still surrounds the sighting of a big cat roaming the Furness countryside made by a sharp-eyed Evening Mail reader.
In what was the latest in a series of south Cumbrian sightings, Mike Hodgson spotted the creature near his Baycliff quarry.
Mr Hodgson, who runs the Hodgestone Quarry, managed to take a quick snap shot of the beast to back up his claim.
Evening Mail chief photographer Sheenah Alcock said there was no disputing the animal’s size.
She said: “On the fixed lens camera that he used and from the position that he took the picture, it would be a sizable animal, much bigger than a domestic cat.”
Experts estimate that the country’s most famous big cat, the legendary Beast of Bodmin could be as big as three-and-a half-feet long.
Around 60 big cat sightings have been made in Cornwall since 1983 and Paul Tyler, MP for North Cornwall, has submitted a dossier of evidence to the government for examination by experts.
However, zoologists from a top North West zoo played down Mr Hodgson's sightings and others made in recent months as far apart as Barrow and Windermere.
Casting doubt on the Baycliff and other big cat sightings, Tony Williams, from Blackpool Zoo, told the Evening Mail: “Throughout the UK there’s been numerous sightings of large cats roaming the countryside. We’ve had experts from the USA and other parts of the world carrying out investigations, looking at the tracks, droppings and checking for scents as cats do mark their territory, but there’s been no evidence whatsoever.
“People have claimed that these animals were from private collection released into the wild in the 1960s and 70s.
“But that’s highly unlikely because they would have been more visible during the past 30 years.”
The sighting of the Beast of Baycliff has led to suggestions that it could have been responsible for seven lambs being found slaughtered at nearby Bardsea in April.
