Alan sets out to test big cat rumours

By jhayward

THE gruesome discovery of a mauled lamb's carcass has revived a photographer's mission to prove the existence of Dorset's fabled big cat.

Alan McNamee of Bridport, has been on the trail of the big cat since 2004, when the Western Gazette commissioned him to follow up a number of reported sightings before the trail suddenly went cold.

Following a spate of new sightings, including the discovery of a disembowelled lamb in a farmer's field in Bockhampton, Mr McNamee is convinced there is substance to rumours an exotic predator is at large.

A Puddletown resident also claimed to have spotted a large, cat-like creature just hours before the attack was reported.

The 45-year-old said: "The discovery of the lamb with bite marks around its throat and all its internal organs stripped out suggests that the attack was carried out by a large predator.

"I cannot say for certain if there is a big cat out there, but I cannot explain the evidence I have seen any other way. No fox, dog or badger would inflict injuries like the ones seen on the lamb.

"Back in 2004 we had a report of a badger carcass that had been dragged up into a tree that we could not explain, and again this is not the sort of thing that you would expect from a fox or badger and certainly not from a dog.

"The official line from the police is that there is no big cat, and Defra says the same thing, but I have spoken to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Swansea and they cannot explain what is happening.

"People who have reported seeing a big cat are not just sounding off in the pub about it. Many of the sightings have been by respectable working people."

Merrily Harpur, the Cattistock author of Roaring Dorset - Encounters with Big Cats recorded no less than 10 sightings by local people in Beaminster, Lyme Regis, Portland, Dorchester and Melplash in 2004. The sightings abruptly stopped in August of that year.

Mr McNamee, had a close shave with the beast himself in June 2004 when he was woken at 1am by the sound of screams outside his then home in Bothenhampton.

He said "I went outside to have a look and the sound seemed to be coming from behind a hedge.

"When I looked over the hedge and saw this giant cat tucking in to this badger. It was at least a metre long and completely black. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, which is why I am determined to catch it on camera this time around."

In a bid to finally prove the existence of the beast, Mr McNamee is planning to form a research group comprising a local vet, a big cat expert and a police wildlife officer to hunt for the creature.

He said: "I want to get a team on standby so that we can respond quickly next time there is a reported sighting. If more livestock is attacked and we can get there quickly we will have a better chance of finding whatever it is and of getting a DNA sample from the carcass."

Mr McNamee harbours his own theory.

He added: "The sightings follow a pattern whereby there is a series of sightings in one area and then they suddenly stop. My idea is that the big cat is probably a puma or a panther that is kept as an exotic pet by someone who releases it now and again to let it hunt before taking it back in."