'Big cat ate my dog' - more sightings reported in Calderdale and Dewsbury after 'panther' spotted in Wakefield

Earlier this month Jeff Johnson, from Normanton, was heading out for a run, driving near Heath Common when he filmed what appeared to be a big cat.

After the footage was published readers from across West Yorkshire have shared their experiences of other sightings.

Richard Strauss from Calderdale shared his acccount.

He said: “Around 15-16 years ago I saw a big black cat. I'm at Hove Edge, Hipperholme, where we lived looked out onto the fields on the other side of the valley, and I saw it walk down by the dry stone wall.

“I could have mistaken it for a housecat except its shoulders were the same height as the wall, which was waist height on me.

“Our dog went missing around that time and when we searched we found out farmers had been having sheep go missing and finding the carcasses so it was definitely hunting in the wild and possibly ate our dog.

“I would say when I saw it I was about 200-300 meters away but it was definitely a cat and I had the wall for scale.”

And Simon Sykes told us he saw a puma-like animal in North Kirklees.

He said: “Around two years ago on my way home from work in Dewsbury a big cat, which I would say was a black leopard or puma, went across the road probably no more than 15 metres away from my car.

“This was in Briestfield around 4pm in full daylight. The animal was long in body and around the height of a labrador dog.

"Its tail was long to the ground and seemed not to taper towards the end as would a domestic cat, the end was curled.”

Phil Taylor saw a panther-like creature from his work van when he was parked on Holmsley Lane in South Kirkby.

Mr Taylor said: “I was sat in my work van with the green belt to my right hand side. There is a row of houses to my left hand side.

"I looked up and saw a black animal walk across my van from left to right.

“The animal was approximately 15 metres away from me. I saw it for five-10 seconds.

“It was a black cat the size of a large dog such as a Labrador. It was jet black with a tail and without doubt was not a house animal.”

After the footage was published at the beginning of this month another witness said he saw an identical breed of animal 20 years ago near Batley Sport Centre.

Adam Windle said: “One summer we all had a kick about and we saw what we first thought was a massive black dog. The thing ran like the Puma badge and it became evident this was a big black cat.

“There were 30 lads there all with their jaws on the floor.

"I was just so perplexed I didn't have time to be scared. We're not in deepest, darkest Peru - this is Batley."

There is speculation that the animals were released by wealthy owners when the government introduced the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976 and have been able to breed.

Email [email protected] with any sightings.