Black leopard sighting at Brockley...

'I live in Brockley in SE4, London. Our garden backs onto undergrowth and the train line South East.

On Thursday night (24th March) my partner noticed a large black shape at the end of our garden making a strange growl as my domestic cat Peach was freaking out looking at it from the window. He went outside only for the creature to have gone rather quickly.

I returned home later on and opened the back door to the garden (It was the first nice evening we'd had) and I obviously startled the creature again and it ran away, clearing three or so garden fences in a matter of seconds. Very heavy footed, claws audible and the strength of the thing evident. We startle foxes and other cats all the time and none of them moved in the way this one did. It was remarkably quick and powerful.'

Recent Gravesend sighting.

'My name is Gill and I live in Gravesend. On Saturday the 26th March at 22.45 I was at the shops in Winfell way Riverview Park and I saw a large black animal walking very close to the wall going around to the back of the shops. I was with my granddaughter and I told her to get her camera ready on her phone I then drove slowly around the back of the shops the only thing we then saw was a small fox running towards my car.The animal I saw was not a fox It had a really long curved tail and stood about 2ft high and very slender in build and walked very slowly.'

More late March sightings...

In the last week there have been reports of a black leopard at Cuxton (observed by two witnesses from bedroom window as it slinked across a field in broad daylight), Ulcombe (large, black cat seen running through a neighbours garden - third sighting in the week) and Marden.

Black leopard sighting at Ashford

WITNESS REPORT: 'Thought I should email you to let you know that on Saturday 19th March at 18:45, I was driving through Brissenden Green, Bethersden heading towards the A28. At this time, I had a large black panther style cat, with a long tail, run across the road, very fast, in front of my car. It actually brought me to a standstill, I think more through sheer amazement at what I had just witnessed! I have heard that a similar cat has been spotted before in the Bethersden/Woodchurch area, so thought that my sighting may be of interest to your big cat research.



I'm so pleased that I have finally seen one for myself!'

Black leopard seen in broad daylight near Gravesend

A female witness named Michelle was shaken by a strange encounter with a large, black cat which she observed at 4:25 pm in the Sole Street area, a few miles from Gravesend, on Saturday March 12th 2011. The animal crossed the road casually, from left to right, around forty-feet away and slinked down towards woods at Meaopham. The animal had an extremely long tail and was the size of a large dog with a smallish head.

Massive paw-prints found in Tunbridge Wells

Paw-prints, stretching for several hundred yards were found in woodland at Penshurst at Tunbridge Wells in March 2011. Deer kills have been reported in the area. Photo courtesy of a Mr Alan Threllfall.

'Beast' of Brighton, or the 'Portslade panther'!?

At 11:00 am on Saturday 5th March 2011 a female witness named Sally observed a black leopard stalking sheep as she was travelling on the A27, at Portslade.

Was a black leopard hit by a car ?

Sceptics always ask as to why there appears to be a lack of 'big cat' bodies found on roads. This can be answered by the fact that of a night, on unlit back roads, vehicle activity is scarce, but on occasion strange incidents are reported. A female motorist from Boughton Monchelsea reported that a large, black animal had been hit by a vehicle in front of her one night. Both motorists stopped but could find no trace of the animal which must have scurried off into the woods. The police were told of the incident and the officer replied, "It was probably the local beast", and laughed! A few years ago an animal resembling a serval was killed on roads near Canterbury, and also a lynx was run over in Dover.

Daylight leopard sighting at Hollingbourne

A landscape gardener and his wife reported a close encounter in the grounds of a large property at Hollingbourne, Maidstone. The male witness was alterted to the sound of scurrying rabbits and called his wife over expecting to see a fox rushing through scrubland. The couple were stunned to see, just thirty yards away, a very large, jet-black cat. The male witness reported, "It was a big fella', about five foot long from nose to tip of tail and it just sauntered by in the undergrowth. My wife went off to get the camera from her coat but it was gone by the time she came back."

Sevenoaks and Bickley sightings

After a few days of a number of sightings, the most impressive came from Bickley (male witness heard on several occasions a piercing scream and his mother observed a puma in the garden) and Sevenoaks from which the following report was submitted:

'I thought I would like to let you know I saw a big black cat in my garden at about 7am yesterday Tuesday March 1st 2011. I live in Morleys Road, Sevenoaks Weald, Kent. As I left the house to go to work the cat was standing beside our pond watching a duck which flew off as I opened the door. It was about 20 yards from me. It walked slowly away and jumped onto a low brick wall, As I walked round to take a photograph it jumped back down. As I walked back to get a better look it jumped back over the wall and walked off fairly slowly through the undergrowth up the slope behind. I took 2 photos with my mobile phone but unfortunately they are poor quality and the perspective doesn't do justice to it's size. It was definitely larger than a domestic cat-perhaps twice as long and twice as tall- and made me gasp with surprise when I opened the door and saw it. I have had 2 or 3 other sightings of similar animals in the garden over the last 10 years. I hope this is of interest to you.'