By Tim Binnall
A British couple's birthday getaway took a wondrous turn when they spotted what appeared to be a panther passing through a field. According to a local media report, the intriguing sighting occurred earlier this month as Karen Carter and her husband were staying at a hotel in the town of Dartmouth. "After relaxing in the spa," she recalled, "we decided to pop up to the bar and treat ourselves to a glass of Prosecco." Shortly after receiving their drinks, the couple found their attention drawn to "movement on the golf course" outside the hotel and, upon gazing in that direction, they were astonished to see a sizeable black creature that some suspect was a famed British big cat.
While the sighting only lasted a few seconds, Carter fortunately captured some of the mysterious moment with her cell phone. Reaction to her video (seen below) among British big cat researchers has been understandably divided. Podcaster Rick Minter noted that the "long body, the apparent bulk, the thick tail and the thick legs do suggest a large cat which people might describe as a ‘panther.'" That said, Danny Bamping of the British Big Cats Society disagreed with that assessment, declaring, "I have been doing this for over thirty years, and I can tell you that the animal in that video is most likely a large domestic cat." What's your take on the couple's sighting? Weigh in with your thoughts at the C2C Facebook page.