A homeowner in Malvern, Worcestershire, has captured what appears to be a large black cat on his security camera. Steven Searle, 51, was alerted by his CCTV at around 2am on Sunday, December 28, and reviewed footage showing a dog-sized animal moving along a neighbour's driveway.
The creature, described as being as tall as a car bonnet, triggered the motion sensors, which are set to ignore smaller domestic cats. 'None of the domestic cats in the close have ever done that,' Searle said. 'It clearly walked past the car and gate next door.' A neighbour also reported seeing a large animal but had no recording.
The sighting adds to a growing number of big cat reports in the UK. Last year, Professor Robin Allaby from Warwick University identified DNA from the Panthera genus—which includes lions, leopards, and jaguars—on a sheep carcass in the Lake District, suggesting that up to 100 big cats could be roaming the British countryside.
In Worcestershire, a half-eaten deer carcass was found in June in the Wyre Forest near Bewdley, sparking fears of a predator. Jessica Lodge, who discovered the remains, said she had 'never seen anything like this before' and believed it could be the work of a big cat.
