‘Big cat’ spotted on prowl in woodland

A Midsomer Norton pensioner has rekindled fears that a wild animal may be prowling the area after he says he was startled by a ‘giant black cat’ jumping from a tree close to the town centre.

Roly Simmonds, 80, has described the moment of shock when he saw a large black cat with a long black tail – for the second time in a year.

Mr Simmonds had been heading up through fields and woodland near Chilcompton Road at about 9.30am to tend to his pigeons when he suddenly saw the labrador-sized animal jump down from a tree.

He said: “If I’d had a camera with me I would have caught him on film. He was in the tree and came down right in front of me. It was faster and bigger than a dog with a long tail. I was carrying two cans of water up to the pigeons when he jumped out and frightened me to death.”

Mr Simmonds said the sighting has come exactly a year since the last time he saw a big black cat in the area.

He added: “I saw him in the middle of the field 12 months ago. It was the identical time of year and makes me wonder if the noise of children enjoying playing outside during the summer holiday has somehow made him head over this way from the Mendips.”

Mr Simmonds is not the only member of his family to have seen the big cat in recent weeks. His sister Wendy also saw a beast last week while looking out from an upstairs window at about 9pm. She said: “He’s about, there is no mistake about it. I was looking out of an upstairs window when I saw him. He was walking along the road and turned behind the flats and I thought that’s the panther people have spoken about seeing round here.”

Miss Simmonds, who has informed Avon and Somerset police about the sighting, said she also found five savaged animal carcasses during winter months including a badger and a number of deer.

Someone else spoke to the

The latest sightings come months after Britain’s environment watchdog ruled out the existence of big cats in the wilds of the West Country.

In April, Natural England said it was “confident that there is no breeding population of big cats” in the UK.