Were animal remains spotted by M25 the St Albans big cat?
Snow Leopards of Leafy London was shot at the Big Cat Survival Trust in Codicote - Credit: Archant
Has the mangled carcass of the elusive St Albans big cat been seen on an M25 sliproad?
This savaged deer was found by a dog walker earlier this year - Credit: Archant
Local graphic designer Gavin Wybrow, 50, saw the road kill on his way to work at about 9am this morning - he said the body was huge, had round ears, and sandy coloured fur.
He said: “It’s only my opinion, I haven’t taken measurements or photographs, but it was weird and I am not mad.
“There was a huge mess of road kill and as I glanced at it, obviously I had to do this in a split second while driving, but it looked like a cougar or some cat. I’d say there is a 75 per cent chance it was a cat.”
Gavin was initially surprised by the sheer massive of “mess”, and assumed it was a large deer until he took a second look.
The deer foot found by a dog walker in Wheathampstead - Credit: Archant
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After chancing upon the corpse, Gavin said his mind was “spinning”: “I am the most sceptical person in the world but this was just ‘wow’ and I have told everyone about it.
“This creature was unexplainable other than a big cat.”
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He believes there must be more than one wild feline around the district, after also spotting a large animal on a dog walk in Chiswell Green about a month ago.
His beagle started growling and acting strangely, before darting off in the undergrowth. Gavin went to investigate and saw a large “willowy” creature, like a dog but without a snout.
Is this further proof of the Hertfordshire big cat? - Credit: Archant
He said: “We couldn’t believe what we had seen. It had a long tail of consistent width all the way down. I say there is a 90 per cent chance it was a cat - it was a strange thing I had not seen before and the dog went berserk for it.”
Brief glimpses of the supposed big cat have flooded in from witnesses since January this year, with occasional pieces of more concrete but highly contested evidence - a taxi driver captured a video of an animal stalking into some undergrowth at about 4.30am, half of a mutilated deer was found by a dog walker in Wheathampstead, and large “feline” pawprints were preserved leading through an Aldwickbury golf bunker after a night of rain.
A Freedom of Information request in November 2016 revealed that Herts Police received about 30 big cat reports in the previous five years. They ask sightings are reported on 101 and a safe distance is kept from the animal.
Did you see anything? Email HertsAd@Archant.co.uk