(Original headline: WOMAN HAVING KITTENS AFTER BIG, BLACK CAT SIGHTING )
A huntsham woman claims she saw a black jaguar in her garden late one evening, earlier this month. Bridget Carver, who lives in the lodge of Huntsham Court, said she saw the animal, the third-largest cat in the world (after tigers and lions) at about 11pm.
The "very muscular" and "very sleek" creature came right up under Ms Carver's first-floor window, and was fully illuminated by the house lights.
"I thought it was my neighbour's cat to start with, but as it kept coming on from out of the shadows it was obviously not," she said. "I was only 15ft away, looking down on it for about seven seconds."
Ms Carver said she had been scared for her one-year-old pet cat Rhubarb, which had been allowed out after dark for the first time that night.
"I went straight out to switch on my car's hazard lights to scare away the animal, but it had gone anyway," she said. "It was definitely a big cat, because I could judge its size, about 130cm in length, against a pot of flowers, and it was all-black and muscular.
"Everything had gone still and silent just before I saw it, as if nature knew something unusual was happening. I'm just sorry I couldn't get my camera in time."
Ms Carver said she had since looked at pictures of jaguars, and they fitted what she had seen.
Spokesmen for two Tiverton veterinary practices, the Vale Veterinary Group and West Ridge, said that they had not received any other reports of jaguar sightings in the district, nor of any escapes from private zoos.
Sgt Keith Watkins, of Tiverton police, said that he was not aware of any reports of escaped jaguars.
l The jaguar (Panthera onca) is the largest cat in the western hemisphere. Males can reach up to 300 pounds in the Pantanal region of Brazil, but are more commonly 250 pounds, with females about 200 pounds.
Jaguars can live for 11 to 12 years in the wild and 20 years in captivity. The body length ranges from 100-180cm, its tail length from 40-70cm, and its shoulder height from 55-76cm.
They look like a larger, stronger cousin of the leopard, and are normally golden-yellow in colour, with black rosette markings, but black jaguars, also with black rosettes, are not uncommon. They are much more muscular, in particular in the neck region. They are one of only a few cats that enjoy water, and are native to the rain forest, where they are under threat from the destruction of their habitat.
