A WALKER who claimed to have spotted a 'huge black panther' in a field has drawn a bizarre picture of the beast.
Steve Swatton was walking with pal Brad Bugdale when the pair of them saw “something black” and the “size of an Alsatian” dog.
Gym boss Steve reckons they saw the ‘panther’ among bushes near Sparkwell village in Devon on Saturday afternoon.
The 60-year-old of Plympton, Devon, didn't have a phone to take a photo of it – so memorised it and drew a picture when he got home.
Steve said: “It was very sleek and about the size of an Alsatian. It was very powerful looking and its tail was very long too."
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He said the long thick tail was in the shape of a perfect bow.
The pair sighted the animal 60 yards away before it suddenly disappeared and hopped over a hedge.
He said:"It was probably more scared of us than us of it."
A lynx escaped from Dartmoor Zoo at Sparkwell earlier this summer before it was recaptured nearby.
In April this year a couple who claimed to have come face-to-face with a black panther while driving through the English countryside drew a sketch to warn others of the beast.
Robert Ingram and his wife Nicola insisted they saw some sort big cat – but the animal was dubbed the ‘Werewolf of Worcester’ because of their drawing of it.
Speaking at the time dad-of-three Robert said: “It was very muscular and looked like it was on steroids. I’ve never been that scared in my life.
“When I saw this animal with my own eyes, I was stunned. It was enormous, far too big for a fox or a dog. It must have weighed about 9 stone – about the same as a slim adult.
“It looked right at us and walked up to the car. It then lowered the front of its body and looked like it was going to pounce.
“We just slammed the car into reverse and went as far as we could.
“I was so scared I fumbled to get my phone out to take a picture, but we'd already driven quite far away.
“There was no way you were going to get me to go near it again to take a better picture. It was terrifying.”
Nicole added that it was ‘one of the scariest things I have ever experienced’.
The couple were driving through Croome Court, a national trust property, when they spotted the big cat.
They claim the beast – which they took a blurry photo of – was as tall as their car window.
Bob Lawrence, head of wildlife development at West Midland Safari and Leisure Park, said it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that it was a black panther, as they usually live in Asia, Africa or the Americas.
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