Terrified mum sees ‘panther’ prowling UK housing estate
When Clare Hodges heard a rustling noise behind her while putting out the bins one evening, she was expecting to catch a glimpse of the local fox her neighbours had been feeding.
But when she turned around, the mother-of-eight was faced by a large black feline, which she now believes to be a wild panther stalking her Northampton street.
Describing the experience as 'terrifying', the 51-year-old said: "It was very big and I just ran quicker than I have ever done in my life into the house, shut the door and showed my partner Joseph.
"I thought it could be a big dog at first, like a Dalmatian with no spots, but then we saw the tail was not like a dog at all.
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"It's actually terrifying how close to homes it has decided to get," she added.
Clare believes the creature was lured to street by the promise of food, as her neighbours had previously left rare lamb out for a local fox. "The neighbours had been leaving out some raw lamb for a lovely vixen we have in the area at the minute and we'd been trying to get a photo of it for some time so I had my camera ready already," she said.
She believes the creature may have come from Harlestone Firs Forest, a nature reserve a few miles from the Ryehill area of Northampton, noting recent big cat sightings in the area.
Although there is no 'proven' population of big cats living in the UK, Clare's claims aren't rare, as numerous Brits believe they've seen panthers of similar large felines in the wild over the years.
In Northamptonshire alone, Clare isn't the only person to claim to have seen a panther within the past few months, as another sighting was reported near the village of Gretton back in July, while another sighting came from Deenethorpe earlier this month.
Known to be able to run at speeds of up to 50mph and can be fatal to humans if they decide to attack, a thought which has left Clare worried for her local community.
"Its a quiet area here but there's still lots of houses and flats so it's extremely worrying," Clare, who is a full-time carer for her autistic 11-year-old daughter said.
"I'm worried for the safety of my daughter and other children in the area now.
"Panthers can be extremely quick and could have got either one of us if it had wanted."
Clare was later met with a mixed reaction when she posted the image on Facebook, revealing that some people thought the image to be AI while others have pointed out 'panther-like' features on the creature in the image.
"Some said they had never seen a clearer picture of a big cat before and never before so close to homes," she added.
Responding to Clare's story, Big cat expert Tim Whittard said that if the image could be verified it was 'alarming' to see it so close to a residential area.
"If authentic then this shows a very large feline animal alarmingly close to people's homes," he said.
Brenna Cooper