Walkers stunned as 'big cat' spotted prowling Yorkshire fields in latest sighting

The friends were out walking near Sutton cum Lound, south of Bawtry near Doncaster, on Wednesday afternoon (Oct 12) when they spotted the ‘still, black animal’ across fields.

One of the pair said: “We were walking around 6pm, along the side of a field behind the church at Sutton cum Lound when we noticed a very still, black animal shape standing across the field, to the front of woodland. We stopped to look, puzzling over what it was, when it suddenly coiled round and ran then sprang in to the woods jumping high over an obstacle in its way.

“We both felt sure it was a large cat like creature, as its shape and movement was nothing like a dog or a deer. It is a popular area for dog walkers, as there's a footpath linking Sutton cum Lound to Daneshill Country Park. We didn’t get pictures, it was all too quick and too far.”

It is the latest in a string of big cat sightings across Doncaster in recent years.

In May this year, 11-year-old Harry Abonyi was cycling in woods with dad Martin when a large mystery animal began giving chase to the youngster. The father and son were biking through Black Carr Plantation on Warning Tongue Lane near to Cantley and Branton when they were approached by the animal.

Martin said: "As we rounded a corner I saw out of the corner of my eye a large black animal sprinting out from the cover of the woods heading directly for my son, running diagonally to head him off.”

In June, a woman said she had spotted a big cat ‘the size of a Great Dane’ while walking in Barnby Dun. In August 2021, a female dog walker reported seeing a beast prowling in fields near Thorne while another reported seeing a “big black cat while driving off the M18 onto the M180 near to Thorne Golf Course. And earlier last year, footage emerged of a mystery animal in fields near Armthorpe.

In 2019, mum Jessica Clark spotted a huge 5ft black cat in fields near to the city’s Eco Power Stadium.

“When I realised what I’d seen, I just started panicking. It was massive and very muscular and definitely a big cat. It was quite frightening to see something like that up close,” she said.

In January 2017, Alan Tomlinson said he had seen a ‘panther’ near to junction one of the M180, close to Doncaster services.

Meanwhile, later the same year, trucker Graham Byram said he saw a trio of highways workers struggling to lift a huge dead animal into the back of a truck on the A1 near Harworth.

Stories of big cats go back to the 1960s and 70s when it was legal to keep exotic animals as pets.

But in 1976 the government introduced the Dangerous Wild Animals Act and while many owners gave their pets to zoos, rumours started that some people released their animals into the wild where their offspring still roam to this day.