- Surrey Puma
The Surrey Puma was one or more
phantom cat s, supposedly black pumas, seen around south westernSurrey from the 1960s onwards.The first possible sightings were recorded in 1959, when police received a number of reports of big cats in the
Farnham area, near the Surrey/Hampshire border. [http://www.meta-religion.com/Paranormale/Cryptozoology/Felines/surrey_puma.htm Metareligion: Surrey Puma] ] Two further sightings were recorded in 1962 bywater board personnel in Hampshire, while in the winter of 1962-3, a "cat-like beast" was seen at Bushylease Farm, nearCrondall in Hampshire. When a police officer sighted the supposedShooters Hill Cheetah in 1963, media interest turned to other big cat sightings." [http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/167_bigcats2002.shtml Alien Big Cats in Britain] ", "Fortean Times ", February 2003]In August 1964, a bullock at Bushylease was found, severely lacerated. Following press coverage, numerous other reports of contact with the animal, dubbed the "Surrey Puma", came in, ranging from the fanciful to some taken seriously by the police. [ [http://www.bigcats.org/ncj/hoaxhoaxhoax.html Hoax! Hoax! Hoax!: The Fowey Skull - Bodmin Beast or Piltdown Puss?] ] At
Godalming Police Station alone, 362 reports were received in a two year period. The station also kept a cast of a massive paw print on display, identified as that of a puma byLondon Zoo , although several reports noted that its size implied an extremely large specimen and that there were distinct differences between it and the prints of other pumas. [" [http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/englishnews449.htm The Surrey puma: fact or fiction?] ", "Illustrated London News ",August 27 1966 ] The investigation was not closed until the summer of 1967.In August 1966, a former police photographer took a grainy shot which he claimed showed the Surrey Puma in
Worplesdon . [ [http://thebrgs.homestead.com/surreypuma.html The Surrey Puma] ] In 1968, a farmer claimed to have shot a puma, but could not provide any evidence. Sightings gradually tailed off, although paw prints found in the snow in 1970 generated a flurry of further reports. In 1984, hair samples taken atPeaslake were identified as puma.In 1983, an alien big cat featured in "
The Archers ", and theBeast of Exmoor entered the news. Sightings of the Surrey Puma were again recorded, and have continued to the present day. [ [http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/englishnews361.htm Spate Of 'Surrey Puma' Sightings] , icSurreyOnline,6 May 2004 ] [" [http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/englishnews887.htm Now Do You Believe There Are Big Cats Living in the Surrey Countryside?] ", "Surrey Advertiser ",23 May 2005 ]ee also
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British big cats References
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