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Does big cat really exist?
WILDLIFE fanatics will have the chance to see whether the legendary Hartlepool "big cat" really does exist.
Sightings of panthers and pumas in and around Hartlepool and the North-East have been reported for decades.
But the issue has still not been resolved as to whether the illusive creatures really roam around the countryside fringes of town.
Jonathan Pounder, of Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, and Hartlepool Borough Council's countryside wardens will be hosting the Path of the Panther walk this weekend.
And they will help people to make up their own mind about the wildlife mystery.
Jonathan said: "With all of the sightings and field evidence so far, it makes you wonder if there really is these wonderful creatures living out there with us.
"A testimony to their adaptability is the fact that we rarely see them and they leave very little evidence behind.
"This walk will go through areas where sightings and evidence has been found in the past, as well as going through some of the wonderful countryside that makes up the fringe of Hartlepool.
"At the end of the day we will leave it up to each individual to make up their own minds to the existence of the Hartlepool Black Panther."
The Mail has carried dozens of stories over the years of people claiming to have seen the big cats.
But their stories are almost always trashed by experts who say the animals are extremely shy and would never get close to man.
On one occasion, Durham Police's wildlife liaison officer Inspector Eddie Bell, who believes the animals do live alongside us, said: "One of the dangers is when people say 'it looked a bit like a picture of a puma'. It can’t be a puma if it’s only close to looking like a puma.”
Eddie also said that since he started investigating the sightings in 1986, people have made provable mistakes.
He said: “One man mistook his own Rottweiler for a puma and another man mistook his neighbour’s cat.”
The five-mile circular walk will be held on Sunday from 10.30am-1.30pm, taking in Pawton Gill. Walkers should meet at Hurworth Burn Reservoir car park.
Participants are asked to meet at Hurworth Burn Reservoir car park, on the road to Trimdon, and bring a packed lunch, waterproofs, binoculars and a big cat field guide.
To book a place contact the countryside wardens on (01429) 853325.
THERE have been numerous sightings of “big cats” in and around Hartlepool over the years.
The Mail has printed articles on many of them, including:
l In March 2006 two Northumbria University staff Judith Donaldson and colleague Hannah Turner believed they saw a puma at the rear of the Newcastle campus.
The women said the creature they saw had a long, brown, thin tail with a furry tip like a lion’s, was a light sandy colour, and had loose flesh around the top of its front legs.
Judith consulted the internet and said the closest image she came across was that of a puma.
Inspector Eddie Bell rubbished the puma claim and said it could have been an Abyssinian cat, which have been bred to resemble a “little puma”; a feral cat; a bull mastif dog, which would have baggy loose skin, or even a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, which would have a long, thin tapered tail.
l In the summer of 2005, Hartlepool brothers Reece and Aaron Luckett, of Masefield Road, spotted a “gorilla-shaped” animal in the Burn Valley and Eddie believed it was an Indian Muntjack deer.
l In October 2004, Jack Smurthwaite, 78, and his neighbours’ children Liam Claughan, 11, and sister Emily, eight, all from Elwick, spotted a big cat and its cub while walking in the village’s woodland.
Eddie believed these animals to be large feral cats, which can grow to the size of Labradors.
The incidents are the latest in a 20-year series of sightings of mysterious creatures in Hartlepool, Trimdon, Wynyard, Hart and Castle Eden.
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Weather for Hartlepool
Sunday 27 May 2012
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