Encounter Atlas
The Beast of Bodmin is a large black cat, often described as panther-sized with yellow-green eyes, reported on and around Bodmin Moor in Cornwall since the early 1980s. Farmers blamed it for mauled sheep and calves, and dozens of witnesses reported a big cat crossing roads and fields.
In 1995 the Ministry of Agriculture investigated and concluded there was no verifiable evidence of a big cat, though it could not rule one out. Days later a boy found a leopard skull on the bank of the River Fowey. The Natural History Museum confirmed it was a leopard, but it had been cut from a leopard-skin rug.
Britain's 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act made exotic pets expensive to keep, and some owners are thought to have released pumas and leopards. Big cat sightings are reported all over the UK every year.
What witnesses report
- A long, low black cat much bigger than a house cat
- A long curved tail
- Sheep killed with throat bites or stripped carcasses
- Large rounded paw prints without claw marks
Famous cases
- 1995Ministry of Agriculture report
Bodmin Moor, Cornwall - 1995Leopard skull found in the River Fowey
Cornwall, England
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