Hunts Post - News for Huntingdon, St Neots and the surrounding area
17:12 - 25 February 2009

IT could be the Fen Tiger...or it could be a St Bernard dog.

Hunts Post readers have been reporting more sightings of Cambridgeshire's large cat with possible evidence of the beast making appearance in St Ives, Papworth, Alconbury and Yelling near St Neots.

However, no everyone believes there is something out there.

One Sawtry believes the recent paw prints found in the snow of the village graveyard were actually those of her dog, a large St Bernard.

Ruth Jordan, 65, thinks that people have mistaken her dog's prints the Fen Tiger.

"So many people told me that they have noticed my dog's paw prints in the snow recently," she said. "I walk him through the graveyard and lots of people my have jumped to the wrong conclusion."

There was more disappointment in Hemingford Grey.

John Walshe suspected that strange paw prints in the snow of his Hemingford Grey garden were the Fen Tiger's, but he was later told by a naturalist that they were actually a badger's.

Cambridgeshire's wildlife crime officer Pc Paul Carter, who has taken to recording sightings of the Fen Tiger in his free time, advised that there is an easy way to tell the paw prints apart - the Fen Tiger prints would look like those of a domestic cat but are simply larger.

"I think some people have mistaken paw prints because of the snow, so look carefully if you see a strange paw print," he said.

However, there was other evidence of sightings in the past few weeks - both in Huntingdonshire and further afield in March and Friday Bridge.

Brampton housewife Kirstie Lisle, 38, told The Hunts Post she saw a "dark panther-like creature which was almost black in colour and had a long tail" whilst on the way home from Peterborough on Monday, February 16.

Mrs Lisle was being driven south on the A1(M) by her husband, John, when she spotted the creature at around 4.45pm near Alconbury in a field across the road between Sawtry and Huntingdon Life Sciences.

"At first it looked a bit like a dog and my husband said it was probably a scarecrow or a muntjac deer but it was definitely a big black animal," said Mrs Lisle. "I'm certain of what I saw, it definitely wasn't a deer and it probably wasn't a dog. It's just one of these things like the Loch Ness Monster and unless you have seen it people don't believe you but I have definitely seen it."

Christine Woodhouse said she saw an animal that was "too big to be a cat or a dog" whilst out walking from Yelling to Papworth on Friday, February 6.

"I noticed something by the side of the woods in the snow, it was certainly an animal of some sort," said Ms Woodhouse. "It was not a cat or a dog as it was too big, but other than that I am still wondering what it was. It was black and was obviously looking for food."

Sam Cook, 69, believes he has seen the Fen Tiger twice in St Ives from the kitchen window of his home on Langley Close. Mr Cook said the sightings were last year, one in the summer and another in December. Both times he got up around 3am for a drink when he saw the beast sniffing around peoples' bins.

"I'm not sure it was the tiger but I looked at it and thought it's too big to be a fox or a cat and it's certainly not a dog," said Mr Cook. "It's very bright where it was because of the street lights and it's only five or six yards away so I could see it very well and quite clearly."

INFORMATION: If you have seen the Fen Tiger then call The Hunts Post on 01480 411481.