New Romney 'big cat' sighting

On Tuesday 18th September a black leopard was observed by a woman who was feeding her donkey at New Romney. The sighting took place at 4pm, and the animal observed was described as three-feet in length, slim in the body and slowly loping along a hedgerow. The marshy areas of New Romney have featured heavily over the years in regards to 'big cat' sightings with sightings coming from Lydd, Ivychurch, Burmarsh and toward Dymchurch. A few years ago one researcher claimed there were "thirteen black leopards" in Romney Marsh which must qualify as one of the most ridiculous statements of all time and the sort of comment that could quite easily create a witch hunt. The marshy area is perfect habitat for large cats (but not thirteen of one species!), particularly lynx, but as a territory for any cat it would be viable as from this area a cat could easily travel into East Sussex - there have been reports at Rye, Hastings etc - and east Kent where there have been many sightings over the years at Ashford, Folkestone, Dover and Tenterden.