OMG my fears were confirmed - horse attacked by 'big cat'

We live in North Essex, near to Braintree, that kind of way. My ex partner swore he saw a lynx sitting on the kerb near our lane, to the point where we went to the local police station and asked to speak to the wildlife liason officer and he confirmed that yes there have been lynx sightings.
Also a freind kept her horses in Stisted, small village and came one morning and found her old boy covered in scratches and very sweaty, dried though.
She called the vet and he said it was definately a big cat and that the horse had probably been laying sleeping when the cat attacked and then got up so no further injury.
 
Im in northampton and have heard stories of a big cat in the village where my horse is kept and i just laughed when i heard about it and asked if they had been drinking! but reading these posts maybe we have got a big cat?

Think i should start to bring my little girlie in at night she is only 32inch mini shetland!
 
Arrghh! I live in northampton! I know there was sightings in suffolk where I used to live! I was one of them! I am sure i saw a big black cat when i was walking through the local woods, no one would believe me! but i know a lot of people had seen it too! I know what I saw and it was NOT a dog. Not heard anything about any being spotted around northants though... Scarey stuff!!!
 
OMG!this is terrible,hope poor horse is ok!only just read this post and they would remind me of something a predator would do!Well heres something scary my horse is currently on a livery yard 10 mins from a zoo.Friend of mine did work experience at said zoo and big cat escaped then animal was darted and put back luckily(this was a few years ago).Y/O was telling few people in tack room the other day,that a farmer friend of his had found dead pigs and sheep in trees and also found a sheep with its back leg bitten clean off!!I am in kent and this has seriously scared me i can feel my hairs sticking up and strange butterflys in my belly!!!
 
Only just read this thread. Last year I met a chap in our lane dressed in camoflage etc, and he told me he was from Sussex Big Cats and said there had been local sightings and on the Downs. The site is quite intersting, not heard of anything being attacked though we do have quite a few deer in the area though. Hope the poor old chap is getting better.
 
I have seen the black panther twice in my area in Suffolk.

Also several years ago my godparent's eventer in Aberdeenshire was attacked by a big cat. It jumped out of a tree onto it's back. Luckliy it was wearing a rug so the wounds were superficial.

I have heard of recent big cat attacks in Surrey- but only on sheep. Nothing more substantial.

Maybe you could set up a photo/ laser thingy and get some photos of it! You'd have to buy a big tin of cat food to tempt it back though!
 
After leaving yard yesterday saw the mobile unit for Sussex Big Cats didn't see the chap but would have asked him about recent attacks. Will go on site today to have a look
 
Good god, how shocking looking at those photos (I can view them on face book cos I'm at home :D)

The poor poor horse, there is no way I'd ever presume a horse had done that, hope he recovers, mind you I doubt the poor creature will feel safe again going out.
 
He's doing much better now - i've actually taken the decision to keep him out again at night as he was not eating anything in his stable overnight (due to quidding - vet cant find anything clinically wrong) so feel it's much better if he's out eating grass. He was cantering around the field yesterday (albeit running away from me and the dreaded fly spray and suncream) so i think he's feeling a lot better. He's certianly more settled in the field and has put on weight. He's still pretty spooky/scatty though, although i'm sure his eyesight is not great (although, again, confirmed fine by the vet!). Thanks for all your messages, i'll pass them on to him - if i can catch him :)
 
Blimey they are some injuries!! Glad he's making a good recovery, there have been many big cat sightings around here, as well as reported livestock attacks, luckily no reported horse attacks.
 
Gosh this is the most interesting post Iv read in a very long time on this forum!

Poor horse, I cant see the pictures as I am at work and photobucket has now apparently been blocked! Can anyone put them on the forum?

It is really scary, your very brave to be turning them both out in the same field so soon after! My sister has claimed for a few years that she say a black big cat cross the road driving home late one night with her partner (they lived around oakhampton) he didnt believe her but she swears it was, bigger than a black lab and moved like a cat...!

Now gonna look at this website.
 
Gosh! So scary. Poor lad. Glad to hear he is on the mend & feeling a bit braver again.
It's one of things I had vaguely heard about but never really believed. However reading all these replies it makes you realise there have been a lot of sightings!
 
Ahh thats a scary thought!! Have heard of large cat sightings in the area (surrey).

I am sure I saw a wolf running across the common up on Ranmore (again surrey) last year but I am told you do not get wolves in the UK!!
 
I can back up Okehampton. Saw one last year crossing on a bridge over the A30 (which I was driving down, gradient there lets you see ontop of the bridge). Broad daylight, no mistake.

The previous winter we had an 'incident' (halfway between Bodmin & Dartmoor). After turning out the 2 yearlings first (was pitch black, about 5.30am), I spotted eyes down the bottom of the field. Green eyes (so not dog/deer). Far to wide apart to be one of the yard cats, & when the head was raised too far from the ground to be badger. It was intently fixed on the girls, & not bothered by my torch (beam not strong enough to get a clear view of animal). I yelled for my friend to bring one of the dogs, & we set off down the field (about 30m) towards the eyes. It didn't run until we were half way down, then leaped the fence effortlessley & took off over the other fields very fast, clearing those fences. When the dog clocked it & its smell she went absolutely beserk. It then stopped, looked back at us, & decided to bugger off.

Now I wont leave a youngster without a healthy adult unless in the middle of the day. Only the biggest animals stay out at night on their own.

Do know of a suspected attack couple of years ago about 5 miles from us on mare & foal. Foal untouched, but mare broke out of her field, over all the banks/hedges (which around here can be huge), ignored the gates just ran in a straight line. Found several miles later covered in scratched (not just where you would expect the hedges to have scratched her), vet couldn't explain. Had to be PTS few weeks alter. The owner said the weird thing was he heard a commotion, got to the field, found that she had gone & basically followed her trail. All the time he was following her there was NO STOCK left in the fields where they had been grazing beforehand, they had run away to adjoining fields. A galloping horse can be scary, but it wouldn't scare stock out of the fields.
 
Hi, I'm just outside Canterbury too and work for an organisation that specifically collects wildlife data (normally native but we do get the odd big cat report). We haven't heard anything directly but the local big cat group website does have a reported sighting of a black panther around Hersden/Upstreet on 19th April. I don't know if this is anywhere near you but if so then the big cat attack theory is most certainly a possibility.
 
About 5 years ago when my boy was stabled in Epping Forest, I took him for a hack one day with my dad walking next to me into the forest but only about 25 mins from our yard. As we walked along the forest edge not too far from a road we could hear an animal in the growth following us. It was a horrible experience - the animal was making a really low growling noise. We thought it might be a boar or something as it grunted a little at times but I'm quite sure boars don't growl and don't quietly follow you. We didn't want to speed off as dad was on foot and fairly heavy so wouldn't be able to run fast and we didn't want whatever was making the noise to do anything drastic. Initially my boy picked up on it first - he became very nervous and kept looking into the forest and it wasn't untill about 10 mins later that we became aware of whatever it was. You could tell it was far too large to be a dog, and had a very deep growl. As soon as we were within sight of the yard we went as fast as possible towards it - later found our Epping forest is apparently famous for it's black cats.

There's also a village near me in Northaw (Herts) where a shetland was attacked twice by a big cat - there are pictures and articles online and it's happened with sheep. Apparently years back someone released three pumas into Cuffley woods and they've bred and are spotted everywhere from Northaw to Essex and everywhere inbetween - quite scary when it comes to hacking!
 
im not far from canterbury , and i havnt heard of anything ,but it so scary to think this has possibly happened . i know there where a couple of reports of black cats in sheerness but that was a while ago
 
Kitsune said:
Post of the day! FACT!!! :D
Click to expand...


Agreed. Made me snort out loud :D




But aside from that - what a horrifying experience and I hope the poor old boy recovers.

I can't see the pics as am at work but I always thought these reports were an urban myth, to see so many of you with first hand accounts is a real eye opener.
 
2 years or so ago there was a few sightings near us, one i remember being at Hartoft, edge of the forestry/ north york moors, 10ish miles north of Pickering.
Scary thought as the forestry is right outside ours house! But still only a few miles from the sightings, not far for a big cat to travel i shouldnt imagine!
Poor pony tho, hope he recovers as much as he can :/ will be scared forever bless :(
 
Interesting point about the Cats doing a big loop and not being territorial. My sister lives in the USA next to a forest, where she rides. She has a lot of wildlife coming out of the forest and grazing in their paddock, but she says it isn't all that often, for instance a group of deer come about once a month and then move on. Also the bears only come for a very few weeks one a year (horses decide, politely, to go home if they see a bear!)

So if the big cats do this as well it would explain why a local farmer might find some carcases in a field, but it doesn't get repeated night after night as the cat has moved on. As well as moving down canals I expect they can move down motorways as well, although they might be a bit noisy. The canals would be quiet and dark at night.

The sighting I know about (not a friend of a friend) was next door to an area of mixed farmland and woodland which is owned by the Police, so it not much visited by the general public, although it is farmed. It is also bordering a canal. A nice quiet place for an animal to livefor a time.
 
I found this post incredibly interesting too!
There's been several sightings of big cats here in Shropshire too. One just down the road from me and I live in a relatively built up housing estate although it's bordered with fields etc. One big cat was even apparently spotted on a large roundabout nearby.
One of my dads workmates had two Shetlands when he was younger and both were killed by a big cat. I've also heard of a terrier being killed by one.
But never witnessed one first hand. I'd quite like to see one from a distance!
 
My horse had a suspected "big cat" attack several years ago in the West Midlands.
He was found very distressed in his field early one morning, covered in sweat with scratch/ slash marks down both flanks. There was nothing in the field he could have done them on. The vet needed 87 staples to put his skin wounds back together
He has since been terrified in the dark and has "panic attacks" - he is completely calm and then his eyes "glaze" and he bolts to nearest "safety" i.e. his stable or field companions. He is also now scared of dogs and small ponies (he is about 17.2!)

My vets are convinced it was a big cat attack.
 
Looking at the photos I'd be inclined to agree with you about the big cat theory.

If anyone's ever watched on tv lions, cheetahs etc hunting, they will know that they try to bring down the animal by climbing on its rear end to force the animal to sit down on its back legs, hence the scratched around the rump area. They will also try and hang on round its neck for the same reason as they aren't big enough to jump directly onto the horse/prey/s back.
 
Good safety measure is to have a few sheep in the field or close by. The act as 'sacrificial lambs' so to speak in being an easier target.
 
Omg, that's genuinely scary! when i read the title, typical me i thought you meant like a normal cat gone mad or something, I do wander where these cats got away from! poor horse I hope its alright!
 
ilovecobs said:
Omg, that's genuinely scary! when i read the title, typical me i thought you meant like a normal cat gone mad or something, I do wander where these cats got away from! poor horse I hope its alright!
Click to expand...


They hadnt gotton away from anywhere not really, Many years ago it was fashionable for rich people to have big cats as pets and when they got to big to handle and the fashion wore out they didnt know what to do with them so they simply let them free into the wild and since then I suppose they have bread and learnt to adapt. They are cleaver animals
 
:eek: This is really ineresting. Last year I brought my horse in from the field and he had gash marks across his chest similar to your horse's, although he had less. At first i was really worried as i thought he'd stabbed or something (it sounds silly but i was really paranoid and i wasn't sure what had caused the wound! and also the scratches were around his chest area..). the scratches were in groups of four/ five and had quite rough edges and one required stitches.. it was not a pretty sight. luckily my horse was not too affected and was fine to be ridden / go back into his beloved :D field pretty soon after (couple of days).

however, although we are in the countryside, we are not in that much of a rural area in hampshire, there is a dual carriageway and layby about 3/4 mile away from the field. the majority of the land is used for farming (all arable)...so perhaps not rural enough for wild cats.. perhaps more likely some wild crazy dog?!?!

we just left it like that and just thought he had managed to bizaarly catch himself on the electric fencing?!... although the height of the fencing is quite different to where the gashes were. :confused:
hope it doesn't happen again..!!
 
My friends and I where chased by one through a cornfield once on foot, luckily we where right by the footpath to the houses so as we ran up the path it got spooked and turned tail, I'll never forget it though. Flash of black and the sound of pawsteps as we try to flatten the corn to sit in. People basically buy big cats as cubs and think they are super cool pets, then when they get to big and dangerous, the release them, around my area was very popular for dumping them, we had two dumped in hextable, one was the one that chased us, we where only around 10 at the time! The best thing for them is to have a young horse in the field and electric fencing, if there is a horse in the field that will fight for the herd the cat will not attack. Plus electric fencing will give it a good old zap and send it howling x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top