It is not the first time someone has reported a big cat sighting in the area, with the website Surrey Panther Watch inviting people to log their sightings in the hope of ‘conclusively proving big cats are living wild in Surrey’
A man claims he was left bleeding from the neck and shoulder with claw marks all over his body after an encounter with a leopard in a beauty spot hugely popular with families in Surrey just 25 minutes out of South London. The 69-year-old, who did not want to be named, says he was walking in the Surrey Hills, which can be reached easily from locations such as Coulsdon, last Sunday (August 31) when he stopped to take photos of a deer he spotted through a hedge.
The man said he heard a “screech” as a light-coloured animal “with dark spots” jumped up and latched onto the deer, sending the pair tumbling towards him. In the chaos, the deer managed to escape and flee into the woods but the big animal landed on top of the walker and started clawing at him. The man, who regularly walks in the area, says he has no doubt that the animal was a leopard – even if it makes him sound “mad”.
He said: “I’m embarrassed to even be talking about it because I know it sounds mad. I know people will think I’m crazy. But I also know what a leopard looks like. This wasn’t a dog or a cat. It was a leopard – with its dark spots and all. That’s a fact.”
The man said he had been walking in the woodland for around half an hour before the incident occurred. He said: “It was a nice day. I could hear birds singing. I was walking along this hedgerow – which was about 20ft high and 8ft wide – and I spotted some movement through a gap. It realised it was a deer so I quietly moved towards the gap to take some photos.
“But all of a sudden the deer screeched and leapt through the hedge towards me – and I realised there was a large animal latched onto its back and side. They knocked me over and the deer fled but the thing landed on me and started clawing at my neck and shoulder.
“I went to push it away with my right hand and that’s when I realised it was a huge cat. I think it was more shocked than I was. I sort of hit it and it ran off, and I was left lying there, dazed.
“And suddenly I realised I had blood coming down my arm and I looked and I had claw marks all over. It had all happened so quickly but it was then that I suddenly thought, ‘Sh*t, that was a leopard.’ I know what they look like. I’ve seen them. I think it was a female – as they’re smaller than males.”
The man has been left with claw marks on his face, neck, right arm, knee, and shoulder, as well as a sprained ankle. When he was able to stand he rushed home, and got straight into the shower.
He said: “I was so completely shocked. I just couldn’t believe it. So I started to go over what had happened and piece things together. I don’t think it meant to attack me. It was hunting the deer – and I was in the way.
“As I started thinking that, ‘You got in the way of a leopard hunting a deer’, I started to doubt myself. I thought, ‘Maybe it was a dog. You don’t get leopards in Surrey. That’s mad.’
“But it wasn’t a dog. It was a leopard. Exactly like the ones you’ve seen on TV. I think someone must have released it into the woodland. So I started looking online hoping to find others who’d had a similar experience.”
It is not the first time someone has reported a big cat sighting in Surrey. Local resident Gary Ridley runs the website Surrey Panther Watch – which invites people to log their sightings in the hope he can “conclusively prove that big cats are living wild in Surrey”.
He has compiled dossiers recording hundreds of sightings across the county and previously told the BBC he is convinced five big cats are in the wild within a 10-mile radius of Guildford, Surrey. Mr Ridley, a builder, told the broadcaster: “Since the 1960s, Surrey residents have described encounters with large, cat-like beasts, some black, some tan.
“Many sightings report a labrador-sized black cat, similar in appearance to a panther or puma, as well as sandy-coloured pumas and lynx. I’m absolutely convinced they are here in Surrey from evidence that I’ve seen.”
Reports of big cats in Britain have long persisted – but conclusive evidence has never been found. The man involved in the recent ‘leopard’ sighting considered going to hospital to have his injuries treated – but decided against it as he thought no one would believe him.
He said: “I did think, ‘Should I go to hospital?’ But I thought I’d be asked about what happened and people would think I’m a nutter. They’d laugh at me. I haven’t told anyone as I don’t want my reputation to be marred. People would just think I drunk too much that day or watched too many nature programmes. But I know what I saw.”
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