Authorities fear a big cat, perhaps a cougar, may be roaming the Cedar Point area in Bay St. Louis in Hancock County.

‘‘I was raised in Hancock County, and the old people used to talk about the panthers — the big cats,’’ city animal control Officer Dorty Necaise said Tuesday.

Now, talk of the big cats has returned, brought about by sighting reports and the death of a small dog that was mauled in the vicinity recently.

Deputy Police Chief Mike De Nardo said a family on July 8 reported that their miniature schnauzer had been attacked and killed by a larger animal.

‘‘The owners heard the dog yapping. They went outside and saw a large creature dragging the dog off,’’ he said.

Read more: Natchez Democrat

THE two latest sightings of a panther-like creature in the Macarthur area have been reported on macarthurchronicle.com.au

Sharon posted she had spotted the animal with her son while driving along Riverside Drive at Airds on Saturday, July 4. “Last night at about about 11pm my son who is learning to drive was driving along Riverside Drive at Airds as part of our driving lesson,” she posted.

“We saw this what appeared to be a black large animal run at lightening speed from one side of road into bushland.

“When I got a better look at it as went to go into the bush it appeared to be like panther.

“It wasn’t a dog as it was quite high in height. My son thought it was a greyhound at first. It was faster than I have ever seen a dog run and seemed to leap and bound as it ran. It freaked us both out and I was relieved my son did not hit it.”

Read the article and see the photo here: Macarthur Chronicle

A 15-year-old schoolgirl has told of her terror after being chased by a big cat she claims was a ‘black panther’ in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

Kim Howells was enjoying a walk through the woodland on her 15th birthday with her cousin Sophie Gwynne, eight, when they came across the animal lying beneath a tree.

Ms Howells, who described the ‘panther’ as about the size of a Great Dane dog, with big eyes, paws and a long tail, said the creature began following them after they spotted it at around 8.30pm on Monday night.

She said: ‘I saw something out of the corner of my eye and at first I thought it was a log or something.

‘We carried on walking but then I looked back and it was sitting up looking at me.

‘It was definitely a big cat. I’ve seen wild boar and deer in the Forest before and it definitely wasn’t one of them.

‘What makes me sure is that it was still light so I could see it really clearly.’

Ms Howells added: ‘Sophie was asking what it was and then we looked behind us and it was about five metres away, following us.

Read more:

Daily Mail

Dr Bob Sharp, 64, is the retired head of the department of sports studies at Strathclyde University. He was part of the team that put together Scotland’s first degree in outdoor education. He has also been involved in mountain rescue for 33 years, 12 of them as leader of the Lomond mountain rescue team.

Recently appointed to the role of statistician for the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland, he is a former chairman of the Scottish Mountain Safety Forum, has served as director of what is is now Mountain Leader Training Scotland, and was a vice-president of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.

He completed a round of the Munros in 1991, and has spent a lot of time on the hill over the years. And he describes himself as “an evidence-based person”, someone who is “not prone to delusions or quick, uninformed decisions”.

All of which is relevant, in a “reliable witness” way, to what happened on the morning of Thursday, 22 April, in the Campsies, north of Glasgow.

Sharp was out for a walk up Meikle Bin: the second-highest hill in the area, an excellent viewpoint, and a popular half-day leg-stretch.

Read more:

Caledonian Mercury