(Original Headline: Eight-year-old boy scared by panther sighting on lane )
A boy from Sheering was left terrified after becoming the latest person to see what he described as a black panther while out walking with his mother.
Eight-year-old Conor Stockbridge, of The Street, was riding his bike ahead of his mother, Suzette, and their dog Tara, along a lane providing access to a nearby field on Wednesday last week around 7pm.
This week, Mrs Stockbridge told the Observer of Conor's distress when he saw the creature.
"I suddenly heard him scream and he shouted 'Mummy, Mummy'," she said. "I wondered what was going on and then I saw him coming back towards me on his bike and he was saying 'get Tara'. He was crying his eyes out and said 'I've seen a panther, a big black panther'. He said it was about the size of his bike with two big yellow fangs and it just leapt into the bushes after he saw it."
Mrs Stockbridge immediately returned home with the frightened boy. Her other son, Rhys, 13, ran out to the spot with his camera trying to get a snap of the animal, but was unsuccessful.
Conor, she said, had been left scared to go near the path by the encounter, preferring instead to walk their dog in the park. "I don't know if someone has released it into the wild or what, but if there is something about, then it is a bit worrying," she added.
Jenny Kemp, a former member of the British Big Cats Society who still has a keen interest in sightings, said she was convinced there was at least one animal roaming the area, saying a panther could range over 40 miles in a single night.
"If you see a cat, the best thing is not to run, because its instinct is to chase after you" said the Bishop's Stortford resident. "The best thing to do is walk slowly away in the other direction."
