Black leopard sighting at Southfleet

On 11th December 2012 a male witness named Alf, whilst delivering to a property at Dale Road, Southfleet, had a surprising encounter. At 3:45 pm he noticed some ducks in the field opposite, and wondering why they were there (as there was no water nearby) was suddenly drawn to a large black cat walking through the undergrowth in a nearby field. Alf was aware that the animal was rather large,and so he called to someone who works at the property and they both watched the animal until it moved out of sight. The area in general is rural with lots of fields and country lanes. There have been sightings in the area in the past, although these are not often, but Southfleet - for a large cat - is not far from Gravesend, where there have been an abundance of sightings over the years.

Recent December sightings...

December so far has been a relatively quiet month for sightings, the most recent concerning a black leopard near Blue Bell Hill. Sussex appears to be the more busier county at the moment - there's been three sightings reported in the last few days, the most impressive near Lewes concerning a former zoo keeper who was travelling to see a friend on December 5th, at around 4:00 pm when a large cat crossed the road around twenty-feet ahead. The witness reported, "I'd heard about the sightings previously in the area but never believed such animals could exist, but this was clearly a melanistic leopard - it was a big animal, low to the ground, and had a long tail but having worked in the vicinity of leopards years ago, it was the shape of the head that stuck in my mind. When I told my friend about what he'd seen he wasn't convinced, until his wife mentioned that around five years ago she'd seen a similar cat near Horsham. Mind you, it doesn't matter who sees such an animal, some people are always sceptical, but I know what I've seen and no-one will convince me otherwise."