Is this ‘big cat’ proof?

A Shropshire gamekeeper believes he may have found evidence of a “big cat” on the prowl after spotting a trail of huge paw prints in a muddy field.Neil Swain said the creature, with paws four inches long and large claws, had apparently bounded across isolated farmland just north of Telford, possibly hunting wild deer. But a big cat expert said the prints were more likely made by a very large dog.

He said it was more likely to have been a Great Dane or Newfoundland as cats retracted their claws while walking.

Father-of six Mr Swain, 42, from Wellington, is a baker by trade, on the night shift at Tesco. He also works on an unpaid basis as gamekeeper on the 5,000 acres farmed by TH Udale & Sons Ltd at Eyton.

He was out with his spaniel Lizzie on Thursday when he spotted the mystery paw prints on a wheat field near a large area of woodland on Sydney Moors.

“I’ve always been a bit of a Doubting Thomas about all these sightings of black panthers and such in Telford,” he said. “But these prints have really intrigued me.

“I followed the trail on wet ground for 30 yards before the field dried out.

“The depth of the marks show it was a very heavy animal and the prints are in line like a cat would make rather than staggered like a dog would make.

“There are fresh prints and older ones, up to 3ft apart, and they are going in both directions.

“It looks like the animal accelerated and jumped in a couple of bounds before slowing down again.”

He added: “It’s private land with no right of way and we are about a mile away from the A442 so we don’t see many people around here.”

Farmer David Udale, of Eyton House Farm, said: “We’ve recently starting getting wild deer on the farm but these tracks are a real novelty.”

His daughter Tori, 14, who e-mailed the Shropshire Star about the mystery prints, said: “I often go riding there and it’s a bit scary thinking my pony might make a nice little snack for a panther.”

But Mark Fraser, of the Big Cats in Britain group, which has put Telford in its national top 10 of sightings, was dubious about the Eyton find.

He said: “The print looks like a dog or a fox. Cats do not leave claw marks.”