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       THE 'BEAST OF BLUE BELL HILL' & others  

by Neil Arnold

As the midnight hour descended and the freezing mist grew thick, a dark, gracile form emerged from the enveloping haze. Like some black spectre it glided silently through the cold night, on a route and oblivious to the presence of the two witnesses who had tracked this beautiful creature for more than a month.

The dark phantom padded into the darkness, a healthy Black Leopard that remained fogged through the lenses of the powerful binoculars. The feline floated down the slope of the crisp field and dissolved into the fog of the hollow.

This had been my second sighting of a Black ‘Panther’, one of a number of mysterious and elusive large predators roaming Kent and all tarred with the same pitch brush which labelled them as the ‘Beast of Blue Bell Hill’.

Since the 1800s sightings of unidentified and large wild cats have emerged from the Garden Of England. Quite fittingly to this website, many of the sightings have been connected to the atmospheric lanes of Blue Bell Hill – an area steeped in history and lore.

Sightings of these exotic cats have become associated with the Blue Bell Hill area mainly due to the lack of knowledge within the local press and their ability to create a name for a rousing headline. This misconception also pertains to the belief that the reason so many of these cats roam the area is due to the introduction in 1976 of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, a law which basically pressured owners of exotic ‘pets’ to pay huge license fees in order to keep their animals, otherwise they would have to give them up. Whilst many people released their cats and other animals into the wild, evidence suggests that there was already much cat activity long before.

Large cats such as the melanistic Leopard and Puma (mountain lion) exist for around fifteen years and so those that were released in the 1970s would not be alive today. Of course, successful breeding populations and further releases closer to the present time mean that Kent, as well as many other counties, is a stalking ground for these shy animals. Some of these animals have been shot and killed, but for every unfortunate dead feline there appears to be at least three others spawned.

KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH not only aims to protect the animals, but also builds a trust with those who see and acknowledge these animals. We have collated enough eye-witness reports and evidence such as video footage, paw-print casts, examinations on suspected prey and photographs to conclude that there is a lot more going on than people realise. Many of these cats will remain undetected for years, and whilst hybrids at the present are unlikely in the area, there is proof that a variety of species roam the woodlands and marshes. These species are breeding healthily and have enough prey and cover to see them through their years. These animals must be protected. These animals will have to be recognised as native.

This site has not been created as an advertisement, but is constructed for those who wish to report sightings and look at the situation. This is, after all, a very serious ‘phenomenon’ which is, after much delay, only just being looked into by some, and exposed wrongly by others.

These felines are dangerous when provoked, cornered or injured. They are not the treasure at the end of the rainbow for the would-be ‘hunter’.

Comments on Kent Today ‘cat’ photograph

The picture [right] allegedly shows a mystery cat stalking Kent marshland at Cooling (Isle of Grain). Whilst the animal appears to have the definition of a ‘big, wild’ cat, a photograph taken after this proves otherwise. It was taken in 1998 and plastered all over the local news as the ‘Beast’ of Blue Bell Hill although it is an entirely different species of cat in an entirely different area. There is a possibility that the photo merely shows an Abyssinian cat, although the cat in the photo is high and powerful in the shoulder, with a long, hooked tail and around three to four-feet in length with a small head. The other photograph taken shows the cat running and appears to be slightly larger than a domestic cat, chocolate-coloured with the hind  legs showing spots and stripes merged. 

The photographer and witness claims that he saw a similar cat on an internet Encarta and believed it to be an Italian wild cat. Whatever the case, all it does prove is that the local press are all too eager to jump to conclusions when in search of a headline.

The picture [below right]: Cooling Cat running (photograph taken by Harry Matthews. Kent marshland [Kent Messenger].                                                                                                                                                

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