Arlecdon Cat (2010)

The following article entitled Mystery Big Cat Spotted was published in on The Whitehaven News website on 28 July 2010. It concerns the sighting of a big cat in West Cumbria.

A MYSTERY big cat has been spotted near Arlecdon.

The cat – described as the size of a Labrador dog – was spotted on Steel Brow at 7.30am last Monday.

The witness – who has asked that his name is withheld – has an interest in wildlife but said: “It was very unusual. I have not seen anything like it wild in the British Isles.”

He said: “I was driving to work from Arlecdon to Whitehaven and got to the bottom of the hill, over the bridge and was about a quarter of the way up. The animal came out of the hedge and onto the road.

“At first I thought it was a small roe deer as I have seen these several times on the same journey.

“I became suspicious as it was too low to the ground to be a deer and had cat-like features.”

He said it was light brown in colour, had a long and thick tail and, after making its way across the road, went through an open gate on the right hand side.

Ian Topham, of the Mysterious Britain & Ireland website, said he had received no other reports. The last big cat stories were in January this year when large prints were spotted in the snow at Borough Park, Workington.

Bit cat sightings have been reported all over the UK and there are many photos and film clips. But they remain elusive and unidentified. There are, however, wild cats in Scotland.

It’s this mysterious nature of the animals – and the lack of any hard, physical evidence – that has excited the interest of paranormal researchers who suggest the creatures may be more akin to ghosts or inter-dimensional travellers.