Beast of Ossett spotted again?

The Beast of Ossett is spotted roaming the countryside near Crofton.The Beast of Ossett is spotted roaming the countryside near Crofton.
The Beast of Ossett is spotted roaming the countryside near Crofton.

A panther like animal has been spotted roaming in the countryside for the second time within a month.

Peter Malcolm was travelling back from Barnsley when he was left shocked after sighting what thinks could be the beast of Ossett.

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Mr Malcolm spotted the ‘big black cat’ as he headed along the A 638 Doncaster Road.

He said it was sat in fields Hemsworth and Crofton.

Mr Malcolm said:”I saw it skulking in the field, it was just sat there eating something in a field.

“I was just admiring the view and spotted it.”

He added the beast appeared to be moving more towards Sharlston Common.

It is not the first reported sighting of a cat like creature in the area this year.

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In August Phil Chapman shot video footage showing what he believes was a big black cat close to the Redbeck Motel, on Doncaster Road, in Crofton.

There have been several other reported sightings of the ‘Beast Of Ossett’, which hit national headlines in 2000. Observers likened it to a big black Irish wolfhound.

Three years later there was a report of a large black cat stalking the village of Wintersett.

There were also sightings of a panther or puma like beast roaming between Alverthorpe and Ossett in 2006.

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An animal, smaller than a Labrador but bigger than a cat, was spotted along a disused railway track between Wintersett and Newmillerdam in 2009.

And a “panther-like beast” was spotted roaming farmland in Notton in 2011.

Last year, there were also reports of a big cat on farmland near Kirkthorpe.

Mr Chapman, from North Yorkshire, said: “I was on the phone to a friend looking out of the window at the fields, watching the rabbits, and this big cat just came through the hedgerow.“It was just casually walking across the field.

“It’s clearly not a domestic cat.”

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He added: “Whereas normally these things are a case of blink and it’s gone, this was in no rush to get across the field.”

Mr Chapman said the animal looked similar to a a panther.

He said: “It will be interesting to know what it was. I know there are big domestic cats but it certainly didn’t look like one.

“I was surprised. I was trying to get a bit of actual proof of what it was on video. It was so clear to the visual eye.”