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Cyclist’s close call with two big cats!
Black leopard (panther)
LBO reader Nick Berghaus has responded to our story about a cougar on the loose to say that there may be a second cat, a black panther, also roaming the countryside close to the Leighton Bypass.
Nick, from Totternhoe, had already spotted a huge black panther crossing the busy road and admits this week that he may have seen the Heath and Reach cougar as well as being stalked by one of the animals.
His first close encounter came last year. Said a shaken Nick: “It was getting light and I could easily see a mile ahead of me. The animal had clearly just crossed the A505 and was headed toward Totternhoe. Its tail and body were unmistakably those of a big cat. The body was long and slightly sunken in the centre of the back and the tail was very long too with a distinct curve back upwards towards the last quarter. I didn’t see the head as it was just slinking down the raised bank of the A505.
“I’m convinced that this was neither a big black dog nor a fox. The outline and calm manner of this creature was quite distinct and it was easily light enough to recognise it as a black Panther.
“The sighting in itself is interesting enough, I thought, and treated it as an exciting novelty, frankly, especially as no-one has ever been attacked by this beautiful creature.
“It is some months after this point that things took a slightly more hair-raising turn. I often cycle to work and this means cycling in pitch darkness most of the time, going in to work in Leighton Buzzard.
“Around the middle of November I was busily pedaling away and was in the middle of Stanbridge, near The Five Bells. All of a sudden, bursting out of the hedge ahead of me and to my left came crashing a large animal, bounding silently across the road and making a hell of a racket as it scrambled its way through the hedge on the right hand side. It made me jump.
“Understandably, this scared the Dickens’ out of me and my blood ran cold. I only caught a fleeting glimpse of the animal, as I only have flashing strobe lights front and back on my cycle, but I saw enough to ascertain that it was a large animal, say the size of an Alsatian and was lightly coloured. I would say that is wasn’t the big black cat, rather that it was a lighter coloured cat of more or less the same size.
“I’m not easily rattled but I have to admit that I haven’t cycled in the dark since. In the months on a lead up to this, I thought I heard something running along the other side of the hedgerow as I cycled in the darkness but couldn’t be sure.
“Was I being stalked? Probably not but speaking to a colleague who cycles from Dunstable to Leighton Buzzard in the dark some mornings, along the old railway line/cycle path, he mentioned last week that he thought something was running along on the other side of the hedgerow, pacing him. I had not mentioned my own experience of that to him.
“Until you clearly see one of these creatures with your own eyes, it’s very hard to accept it having any basis in reality. However I can assure you, and everyone else, that when you are confronted with having to cycle to work in the pitch dark, alone, with no one else around, having seen one of these big cats in your area, that it very rapidly takes on a particularly tense and sagacious effervescence.
“There appears to be at least two types of big cat loose in the immediate area surrounding Leighton Buzzard.
“My take on this is that these are very beautiful creatures and we are far better leaving them alone. I don’t feel anyone has anything to worry about though I shan’t be walking or cycling alone in the dark down country lanes again in a hurry.”
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
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