The Never-spotted Leopard - Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life - page 56

absence shows that there is no such population. With the possible
exception of the very occasional fugitive (almost all of which have
been quickly caught or killed and none of which is black), the beasts
reported by so many sober, upright, reputable people are imaginary.
None of this has made the slightest difference, either to the number
of sightings or to the breathless credulity with which they are reported
in the papers. A story in the Daily Mail claimed that 'huge paw prints'
in the snow 'could finally be proof' that the Beast of Stroud exists. 9
The woman who found them told the paper 'it looks like someone's
just dropped a dart at the end of each toe where its claw has made an
indentation in the snow'. This confirms what the photos suggest: the
prints were made by a dog. Cats retract their claws when they walk.
A long report in the Scotsman titled 'Do giant paw prints mean big
cat is on the prowl in Capital?' claimed that marks found by a pen-
sioner in the snow suggest that Edinburgh, like London, is now
haunted by a monstrous feline. 10 An 'expert' it consulted decided that
'it's unlikely but not impossible' that the prints were made by a Beast.
If so, it must have been a scary creature: a one-legged ghoul hopping
up the pavement on tiptoes. Or it might have been someone sticking
his fingers in the snow.
There was an equally plausible story in the Guardian . It reports the
claims of a man who says he was attacked by the Sydenham Panther. 11
The Beast 'jumped on my chest, knocking me to the ground', he said.
'I could see these huge teeth and the whites of its eyes just inches from
my face. It was snarling and growling and I really believed it was try-
ing to do some serious damage. I tried to get it off but I couldn't move
it, it was heavier than me.' A further report by the BBC alleged that
the Panther had him 'in its claws for about 30 seconds', with the result
that 'he was scratched all over his body'. 12 Had he really been attacked
by a leopard in this fashion, his throat would have been ripped out
before he could blink.
My favourite story, from the Daily Mail , was headlined 'Is this the
Beast of Exmoor? Body of mystery animal washes up on beach'. 13
Beside a photograph of a decomposed head (and another of a snarling
black panther), it reported that 'great fangs jutted from its huge jaw,
gleaming in the afternoon sun. Then there was the carcass. Up to 5ft
long, powerful chest, and what could be the remains of a tail.' The