With the tracking experience I've picked up in South Africa, I've often looked for signs when I've been out walking and checked muddy pawprints to see if they're dog or cat. I've also thought about what I'd do if I came face to face with it, but I've never seen anything.
Until today. At 8.00 am I clearly saw a melanistic leopard (black panther) from about 200 yards away from my train (which was moving slowly) bounding down a sloping field and pouncing on something under a large bush in a hedge. It was in an area I know well next to a footpath so it was easy to scale it. I'd say it was nearly 5 feet from it's nose to the end of it's very long tail.
So as soon as I finished work I was off on my bike to look for spoor or scats in the area. The ground was too hard for pawprints but I did find some cat faeces which I wrapped in an old rag and brought home for "evidence"
So far so good. BUT - I've now discovered that nobody believes me and the first thing anybody does is laugh and then try to humour me. Take the present Mrs Speedbird (please ...). When I told her she just gave me a look and said "You will never, ever tell anybody this! Do you understand?"
I opened my mouth to speak and she said "And don't even dream about emailing the Wiltshire Times." My mouth silently closed and I nodded in agreement.In retrospect I shouldn't have mentioned the faeces that are sitting in the garage. I tried to explain that they need to be taken apart to check for hair and bones to confirm the sort of prey it's eating but she flounced out of the room before I'd finished, with a pained expression on her face
So my advice is: If you see anything unusual (big cat, UFO, yeti, whatever) just walk away and don't tell a soul
Ian
I've had to conclude that my garage is full of badger shit