Clare Hodges, 51, said she snatched a quick picture then dashed back in “quicker than I have had in my life” and is now frightened to leave her home after clapping eyes on the beast
A terrified has told how she spotted a panther prowling through her residential estate as she took out the bins. Clare Hodges, 51, said she snatched a quick picture then dashed back in “quicker than I have had in my life”.
The mum-of-eight is now frightened to leave her home after clapping eyes on the beast in the Ryehill area of Northampton. She said: “It was terrifying. I was putting the bins out when I heard a noise behind me.
“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.
“So I thought it was the fox and turned to get a quick image and then within a second or so I thought ‘oh s**t, what is that?’ 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. It’s actually terrifying how close to homes it has decided to get.
“Panthers can be extremely quick and could have got either one of us if it had wanted. I’m worried for the safety of my daughter and other children in the area now.
“She lives in her own little bubble due to her autism so it’s really aware of danger. The other weird thing is that all the cats in the area hadn’t been out for a few days before it happened.
“So I wonder if it’s been the area for some time. I think it must have been attracted to the meat which had been laid out in the street for the fox.”
Northampton, whose football club are nicknamed The Cobblers after the town’s historical shoe and bootmaking industry, is near two recent big cat sightings. And neighbouring county Rutland was home to the famous Beast of Rutland sightings in the 1990s.
The latest scares began on July 16 with a sighting near Gretton, a village north of Corby. On August 6, a large black cat was seen five miles south-east of the first sighting in a field near Deenethorpe.
Clare, a full-time carer to her autistic 11-year-old daughter, took her photo around 25 miles south of the second sighting on August 18. Panthers can travel 20 miles in a day searching for prey.
Ans she believes the creature could have come from Harlestone Firs Forest, an area of vast woodland which is a couple of miles from their home.
She added: “There have been rumours of big cat sightings up there before but what is worrying is how far it came into a built up area. It’s a quiet area here but there’s still lots of houses and flats so it’s extremely worrying.
“Afterwards I posted the image on my Facebook page and while some people were amazed others didn’t believe me. Some said it was AI but it really isn’t – I wouldn’t know how to do that anyway and I don’t have the time to looking after my daughter.
“Put people can think what they like, but we know what we saw. A lot of people have pointed out the panther like features. Some said they had never seen a clearer picture of a big cat before and never before so close to homes.”
Big cat expert Tim Whittard said: “If authentic then this shows a very large feline animal alarmingly close to people’s homes.”
Northamptonshire Police said the latest sighting had not been reported to them.