Watch: where 'big cats' have been seen in Herefordshire

BIG cat sightings are reported across the country every year, and Herefordshire is no exception.

From attacks on horses and sheep, to strange sightings in dark lanes, there has been plenty of potential big cat activity in the county over the years.

A wave of ‘black beast’ sightings were reported during the late 1990s, with famous Herefordshire cases include the Woolhope Wildcat in 1994 and numerous spottings of the Herefordshire Phantom Feline, also known as 'Big Puss', from 1996 to 2000.

But reports later dropped off and by 2002 the county had claimed bottom place in a nationwide table of sightings.

But in December 2009, Hereford man Steve Hall saw a feline-like creature, about two-and-a-half feet tall, stalking its way over farmland near Newtown Crossroads and recorded it on video.

The then-30-year-old said: “The wind was blowing in my direction so it couldn’t sense me.

“It was just walking across the hedge and then it saw us and sat in the hedge a bit watching.”

Steve and his friend Dave Went were walking their dogs on the other side of the field when they saw it but managed to zoom in and get a shaky shot of the animal before it made off.

Dave said: "I thought I saw one a few years ago but I wasn’t too sure as it was dark, but this footage proves they are local. It was far too big to be a domestic cat.”

Nothing has ever been proven but Steve, who was out filming his own pets for a website he runs when it happened, is adamant this is the real thing.

“I go out all the time in the countryside and know the difference between a cat and a dog,” he said. “This was definitely a big cat.”

The next week, Pauline Mannion contacted the Hereford Times to say four of her sheep had been killed near Newtown crossroads in unknown circumstances.

Mrs Mannion, had seen the animal but was unsure what it is.

“Perhaps there are big cats out there. I really don’t know,” said Mrs Mannion.

“If somebody has seen one I would have no reason to disbelieve them.”

Six months later, in July 2010, a big cat was blamed after a horse sustained injuries near Ross-on-Wye.

Rachel Baugh noticed a deep wound and scratch marks to her bay horse and was told by an expert the injuries could have been caused by a big cat.

The scratches left by an unknown animal

Trail marks were also spotted near the stables in Upton Bishop.

“He was sulking around and at first I thought that he had just been in a bit of a scuffle with some of the other horses and that he had been bitten or kicked,” said Rachel.

“But when I walked to the other side I discovered that he had scratches to his back and a deep wound on his rear.

“I phoned the vet and he told me to describe what had happened.

The only thing I could say was that it looked like a big cat attack as I couldn’t think what else it could have been.”

And in July 2014, a mysterious big cat was spotted in Lugwardine by a woman on her way to work last night.

Debbie Smithers was travelling from her Whitecross home to St Michael’s Hospice at around 8.55pm when she came across what she describes as a “large, dark cat” on Lumber Lane, near Lugwardine.

“It was about three feet high, stood on the opposite carriageway of the road, facing Hereford,” said Mrs Smithers, a nurse at the hospice.

“Within seconds its tail went up and it sort of gracefully jumped across into the verge and into the hedge.”

Mrs Smithers said she has only seen similar animals in a Safari Park or Zoo.

“I just thought ‘what on earth is that?’ I was just amazed really, more than anything. I was quite taken with the elegance of how its tail went up and it jumped into the verge,” she added.