Scarborough Evening News

9 June 2001

Howzat for beast sighting

A CRICKET fan has told how he went off to investigate a "large black cat" after players and supporters sighted the beast prowling around in an adjoining field during a local league match.

Tony Stephenson had gone to watch his son play in a cricket match between Hackness and Wykeham when he, along with others spotted what appeared to be a large black cat.

Mr Stephenson, of Prospect Road, Scarborough said: "It looked a pretty big thing, certainly a lot larger than a domestic cat. As we got closer it walked away, eventually disappearing into a hedge."

After the animal, described as jet black in colour with a long body and tail which dragged along the ground, had disappeared he discovered a couple of rabbit carcasses nearby, although he said it was difficult to telI whether they had been dropped by the animal.

This is is the latest in a string of sightings of a black panther-like cat which has been seen at Eastfield, Staintondale, Brompton-by-Sawdon and Cayton in recent months.