“It looked like a big jet-black panther. I can’t describe it as anything else.”
Sarah Lumley Multimedia Reporter
06:00, 13 Oct 2026Updated 06:57, 13 Oct 2026
The green where Susan spotted the animal (not pictured)(Image: Susan Bates)
A Cotswolds woman said she ‘couldn’t believe her eyes’ when she looked out of her bedroom window and saw what appeared to be a ‘big black panther’ across the road from her house.
Susan Bates, 74, has now spoken out about the remarkable sighting in her Gloucestershire village a few weeks ago, which she at first believed to be a dog.
But the more she watched, the more she became convinced that it was a big cat she was seeing, barely 50 yards from her house. Though she did not get a photo she says her story was later corroborated by a neighbour, who also claims to have seen a distinctive animal whilst out walking her dog.
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Speaking to GloucestershireLive yesterday Susan, who lives in Upper Rissington near Bourton-on-the-Water, said: “It was about 5.15am and I was just in my bedroom at home. I’m a light sleeper at the best of times, and I had not long got back from holiday so I was still a bit jetlagged.
“I was standing looking out my bedroom window towards the allotments opposite my house. There’s a man-made track just across a green across from my house which is dotted with some thickets, and suddenly I saw what I thought to be a dog.
“It was about the size of a Labrador. I watched it for a bit, expecting to see a human appear somewhere behind it. I thought it was a bit odd, someone out walking their dog that early in the morning.
“About 50 yards from my house it disappeared into the shrubs, and then it came back out and it was completely side-on to me. As soon as it reappeared I realised it was not a dog at all.
“The way it was walking was very distinctive. The haunches were down a bit, like a cat. But it was the tail that got me. It was like thick black rope, long and slightly curled at the end.
“It looked like a classic, big jet-black panther. I can’t describe it as anything else.”
A stock image of a black jaguar, also known as a panther(Image: Sarah Cheriton-Jones/Getty)
The sighting was in mid-September and Susan said the animal was only in view for around 30 seconds – but that this was long enough for her to have no doubt of what she was seeing.
She said: “It was strolling along at a leisurely pace, not in a hurry, like it didn’t have a care in the world. If it had been moving quickly or running I would have questioned myself. I did have a moment of disbelief. But I know I did see it. I just couldn’t believe my eyes.”
And Susan added: “We do get a lot of little muntjac deer in those copses, so there’s probably a good food source there for them.
“I spoke to my neighbour about three or four days later and she also said she saw it while out walking her dog. It must have been in the area for two or three days, but I haven’t seen it since, so it has probably moved on. It was just really interesting.”
Susan reported the sighting to Gloucester big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, who has been a big cat and wildlife enthusiast for around 50 years.
He said: “The overwhelming evidence from across the UK now indicates that various forms of large predatory cats, including the secretive lynx (not classed as a Big Cat), are now established, and thriving on the plethora of small deer, rabbits, and ground nesting birds available to them.
“Like all predators their numbers are usually exaggerated, and are also often perceived as being dangerous by the media. In reality they, like most forms of our wildlife, avoid mankind at all costs, but due to loss of habitat they often cross paths with us humans in their search for food and mates.
“What a fascinating subject, and one that has rolled along for decades now without a definite conclusion. I hope in some ways it stays like that, as otherwise these happy go lucky cats would be persecuted for no fault of their own!”