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A walker has described the "jaw-dropping" moment a large cat jumped out in front of him while driving his car in Devon.

David Gliddon, 72, from Williton in West Somerset, said the big feline creature leapt onto a wall in front of him while he was driving between Trentishoe and Heddon's Mouth on Exmoor.

And now lots of other people are saying they've seen evidence of the Exmoor beast too.

He described it as a "great big thing" with a thick, two foot long tail and says the experience left him dumbstruck.

(Image: SWNS)

David, who had been walking near Hunter's Inn on July 4 with his daughter prior to the sighting, said: "It was the size of a large Labrador, or possibly bigger.

"It jumped up onto a wall about five yards in front of me on the road, the way it moved was just like a cat.

"Its tail was about two foot long and very thick, a constant width from start to finish.

"It was a browny greyish colour with slightly lighter, almost green flecks or spots.

"It was only there for an instant before it jumped over the other side of the wall."

Stunned, David stopped the car in the middle of the road and ran to the wall to see if the animal was still there.

He said: "When I looked over the wall it looked like it had run off into the thick bracken.

"I have never seen anything like this before. It was so clear.

"I was dumbstruck, I could not believe what I had seen."

David, a keen wildlife watcher, says he is aware of wild mink and terrapins in this area, and the pythons and wallaby have also been spotted previously in West Somerset.

He said: "I've always kept an open mind.

"I've been on safari in Africa and seen a leopard from a distance, and this animal very similar in its characteristics.

"It was a jaw-dropping experience.

"I'd like to know if any farmers in that area have lost any sheep recently or if anyone else has spotted anything similar."

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said no sightings had been reported to them.

Dan Barnett, Head of Exmoor National Park Ranger Team, said: “For decades there have been sightings of big cat-like creatures out on the moor, fuelling the legend of the Beast of Exmoor.

"There’s no way of knowing what these people saw, but big cats living in the National Park is certainly an intriguing possibility.”

What does the Centre for Fortean Zoology make of the sighting?

Jon Downes, founder of the Centre for Fortean Zoology based in Woolsery in North Devon, says he believes the sighting sounds very convincing.

He said: "A lot of the sightings we get are almost too good to be big cats and are almost certainly large domestic dogs.

"But given how short a look he got of this one and how certain he is that it was a feline creature, I'd say that makes this case pretty convincing.

"With the hot weather we've been having recently it's more likely that a big cat would hunt at dawn or dusk, but this one may have been disturbed."

Jon, who once claims to have spotted a wild puma himself on Bodmin Moor, says he is absolutely convinced there are big cats out there in the wilds of the south west.

He said: "Back in 2010 we found hair samples at a woodland called Huddisford near Woolsery.

"We had them tested by two laboratories, both in this country and in Scandinavia, and the results from both showed they were from a sub-Saharan species of leopard.

"This recent sighting is the first one we've received since January or February time."

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Jon offered the following advice for anyone who spots anything similarly unusual.

He said: "If you are able to get pictures, please do. That is great for us.

"It's also worth looking for footprints and hair samples on any nearby plants or foliage.

"If you do get something, send it to us and we will always do our best to get the answers."

What is the Exmoor Beast?

According to Wikipedia, the Beast of Exmoor is a cryptozoological felid (or phantom cat) that is reported to roam the fields of Exmoor in both Devon and Somerset.

It says: "There have been numerous reports of eyewitness sightings, however the official Exmoor National Park website lists the beast under 'Traditions, Folklore, and Legends', and the BBC calls it 'the famous-yet-elusive beast of Exmoor'.

"Sightings were first reported in the 1970s, although it became notorious in 1983, when a South Molton farmer claimed to have lost over 100 sheep in the space of three months, all of them apparently killed by violent throat injuries.

"Descriptions of its coloration range from black to tan or dark grey. It is possibly a cougar or black leopard which was released sometime in the 1960s or 1970s after a law was passed making it illegal for them to be kept in captivity outside zoos.

"However, considering that cougar and leopard life spans are 12–15 years, this is unlikely.

"In 2006 the British Big Cats Society reported that a skull found by a Devon farmer was that of a puma, however the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) states that 'Based on the evidence, Defra does not believe that there are big cats living in the wild in England'.

Trevor Beer OBE, a former nature writer for the North Devon Journal, said there is no single Exmoor Beast but rather several big cats loose around the countryside in this area - including, he says, black leopards and pumas.

He said: "There are also other alien species of smaller cats including lynx with some, including the Asian Leopard Cat and the Swamp Cat, having been shot in recent years in Britain.

"At present both black leopards and pumas have been seen with cubs and sub adults on Exmoor, Dartmoor and elsewhere in the Westcountry. Thus we now have feral big-cats in the British Isles, a modern day legend.



"So, the so-called Beast of Exmoor entered our folklore in the 20th century and as with all folklore and legend there is no smoke without fire."

Seven things you need to know about the Exmoor Beast

(Image: SWNS)