The 'Big Cat' mystery gathered pace this week, with more reports of sightings – assuring the cyclist at the centre of last week’s story that he certainly wasn't seeing things.
One family found themselves staring into the shiny eyes of a large black animal near a Cleckheaton playing field. A Ravensthorpe woman says she is sure it is a big cat which keeps digging deep holes in her garden.
And a Mirfield man says he saw a big black cat while out shooting.
Last week a cyclist was shocked to come face to face with a 'panther' on the Spen Valley Greenway at Dewsbury Moor. The 38-year-old admitted to being scared and proceeded to get the hell out of there.
But the sighting near chemical works at Heckmondwike Road supports a similar report.
Joyce Allatt of Ravenshouse Road has been mystified by happenings at the semi-wild end of her back garden."Something big is coming in there," she said. "It digs holes and climbs a tree. Clumps of leaves and such keep coming down. I keep filling up the holes but the next day they are scrabbled out again."
"I have lived here for more than 50 years and nothing like this has ever happened before," she said. "It doesn’t scare me though." She has found mangled takeaway cartons inexplicably left there.
Days before our story last week, a housewife in Church Lane, Dewsbury Moor, thought she was seeing things after spotting a large black cat near bushes in the grounds of Westmoor School.
"I couldn't believe my eyes," she said. "I thought people would think I was mad, and then I read the story in The Press."
At Cleckheaton, Debbie Ross, her husband, Stuart, and their daughter Kersha, 13, encountered the beast as they walked their three rottweilers on Friday evening.
The family left their Hill Street home and went by a large field behind Whitcliffe Mount School.
"My husband suddenly told us to stand still," said Debbie. "This animal was there - as big as one of our dogs.
"It was pure black with shiny eyes. We were about 80 metres away. It was much bigger than an ordinary cat, a hell of a lot bigger, and was just sitting on the path. Its ears were very pointed and its tail was huge."
"We got within 50 metres and it casually walked off into some bushes," said Debbie. "Stuart heard it growling."
The family then saw our reports and, concerned the sighting had been near a playground, reported it to a big cat website which monitors sightings.
A Mirfield man - who would not be named - said he saw something last autumn while out shooting near the rail station at Mirfield.
"As I shone my light I saw a rabbit and a dark shadow," he said. "I walked off but heard it following me and growling. I was within 10 to 15 yards of it.
"There was no doubt it was a big cat. It was black and had a very muscular, wide head. Certainly not a domestic pet.
"I had never seen anything like this and I was very scared. I was 10 minutes from my car and alone."
Rosealene Ballan from the Spen Valley area said: "My husband also saw the cat. He was crossing the bridge on the footpath across Spen Beck heading towards Spenborough sewage treatment works and Ponderosa.
"What he saw was black and it padded across the footpath and went under a gap in a fence. There was a print there, much too big for a domestic animal.
"Our cross-Staffie stood still and the hairs on her back stood on end.
"Our dog would have approached a dog and chased a moggie. Since then he’s found what looked to be a young badger chewed and stripped to the bone opposite the Ponderosa cafe."
Paul Westwood of the Big Cats Monitor said: "Most of the sightings have been near old rail lines and this is just the sort of territory big cats use. It certainly adds weight to the reports.
"Ravenshouse Road is just such an area, close to a dismantled line. The cats use these to get from place to place."
Mr Westwood collates information and if there seems to be substance investigates to gather evidence as to whether the sightings are feasible.
Big Cat Sightings Increase In UK
