Unreliable Memories – the Beast of Exmoor

Oct 1, 2026

By Harry Mottram: A huge dark creature emerged from the hedge in front of my motorbike. I braked and stopped in the middle of the lane. It met my stare with its luminous green eyes for several seconds and then disappeared back into the night. My head thought it was a large farm cat but my heart thought no – it was a young black panther – the big cat of Amazonian rain forests capable of killing a capybara or a small deer –  or perhaps a motorcyclist on a country road on Exmoor. It was back in the early 1980s on a winter night when I was returning from visiting my mum who lived in a remote part of the moors near the Poltimore Arms above Simonsbath. There was snow on the ground and a sharp wind with icy stretches in places, so I was taking it slowly. A big cat had been spotted on the moors at the time with a farmer claiming it had attacked and killed several sheep – Royal Marines were deployed for a time to search the woods and gorse covered uplands but in the end they drew a blank – but doubts persisted.

A reoccurring story in the local press over the years is The Beast. The Beast of Exmoor, the Beast of The Mendips, the Beast of Bodmin Moor and even the Big Cat of the Cotswolds. Big cats have been spotted almost anywhere from Cornwall to Scotland – rather like ghosts and UFOs – there is never any photographic or video evidence. Blurred photographs and inconsistent accounts which suggests most are certainly large feral domestic cats. Despite this lack of evidence stories of big cats released into the English countryside after the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 when it is thought some unwanted exotic pets were let go these sightings have been meat and drink for the media – and for imaginative journalists like me.

As a reporter on Mid Somerset Newpapers in the 2000s I remember a sense of relief when there was a report of a big cat near Priddy in Somerset. With little prompting several contacts I called had also seen – or thought they had seen a big cat. But as usual no photos to back up their claims. “It was definitely the size of a Golden Retriever – much bigger that a domestic tabby cat,” was a pretty standard report and, “it was highlighted against the horizon, difficult to see with the glare of the sun, but by the time I thought about taking a photo on my phone it was gone.”

The usual suspects were discussed: a lynx, that bob tailed cat about the size of a Golden Retriever and a former resident of these isles; or a black panther and a dangerous predator that could if cornered kill a human; a puma or mountain lion unlikely but at least the right size; a leopard maybe but its distinctive spotted coat would be a give-away; a lion – well there are lions in Longleat and supposedly one was spotted in a field near Bath a few years ago. But lions (and tigers) by their very size would struggle to stay hidden for years in the Somerset or Devon countrysides.

Before the 1970s exotic animals such as leopards, bears and pumas were kept privately with a history dating back to Medieval times when Kings and Dukes kept private zoos. There are still private collections today but in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries more exotic creatures were kept as pets or brought back from travels abroad. The 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act introduced strict rules and licensing that led to a number of owners releasing their animals rather than abide by the new laws. It not surprisingly created a rash of sightings of big cats – and the legend of the Beast of Exmoor was born. Actually, due to the numbers released there were beasts of Dartmoor, Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds as well as anywhere that had moorland, mountains and wild heathlands like Scotland – where a puma was caught and placed in a zoo.

Like a some people I hope such beasts continue to live out their lives in Britain’s shrinking wildernesses – probably surviving on fresh air as farmers would notice if any of their animals went missing. I’m not alone – as when a big cat was spotted in the Mendips when I was a district report in 1998 there was an enthusiasm amongst the public who appeared collectively to will it to exist suggesting we still have a little part of our stone age hunter gatherer DNA still intact. And there are certain people that society wouldn’t miss if a big cat was to pounce on them and drag them away to be eaten – but preferably not motorcyclists travelling back across Exmoor in the dark.

There is more on Exmoor and some notes on ‘The Beast’ at https://www.thebestofexmoor.co.uk/blog/

The Alternative Correspondent is written and edited by Harry Mottram of Axbridge in Somerset

For more visit: www.harrymottram.co.uk or follow him on Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and God knows where else!