The Beast of Bodmin Moor: Cornwall's Mysterious Big Cat

Since the 1970s, hundreds of people have reported seeing a large black cat roaming the wild expanses of Bodmin Moor. Farmers have found livestock killed with wounds consistent with a big cat attack. Walkers have described a panther-like creature watching them from the granite tors.

In 1995, the matter became serious enough that the Ministry of Agriculture conducted an official investigation. They examined sheep carcasses, analysed photographic evidence, and interviewed witnesses across Cornwall.

Their conclusion was wonderfully inconclusive: "No verifiable evidence of big cats," they said, "but equally no evidence to dismiss the reports."

The sightings continue to this day. A farmer near Warleggan reported a large black cat in 2019. Drivers on the A30 have stopped their cars, convinced they've seen something impossible. Trail cameras have captured tantalising glimpses of... something.

The most likely explanation is that wealthy exotic animal owners, faced with the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act, released their pets onto the moor rather than register them. A breeding population of pumas or leopards might have established itself in the remote valleys and woodlands.

Or perhaps Bodmin Moor simply has secrets it refuses to give up. The locals, pragmatic as ever, simply shrug and say: "There's something out there, sure enough. Always has been, always will be."

Source: Ministry of Agriculture official investigation (1995), British Big Cat Society records, and contemporary press reports. Public record information.