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The 'Beast of Bodmin', like The Beast of Exmoor, is a phantom wild cat which ranges in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Bodmin Moor became a centre of these sightings with occasional reports of mutilated slain livestock: the alleged leopard-like cats of the same region came to be popularly known as the Beast of Bodmin Moor.

Contents

Controversy

Ghostly Origin

Recent sightings

Popular culture

See also

External links

Controversy

A long held hypothesis suggested the possibility that alien big cats at large in the United Kingdom could have been imported as part of private collections or zoos, later escaped or set free. An escaped big cat could not be reported to the authorities due to the illegality of owning and importing the animals.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food decided to conduct an official investigation in 1995. The study's findings decided there was "no verifiable evidence" of exotic felines loose in Britain, and that the mauled farm animals could have been attacked by common indigenous species. The report stated that "the investigation could not prove that a 'big cat' is not present."
Less than a week after the government report, a boy was walking by the River Fowey when he discovered a large cat skull. Measuring about four inches wide and seven inches long (10 × 18 cm), the skull was minus its lower jaw but possessed two sharp, prominent incisors that suggested that it might have been a leopard. The story hit the national press at about the same time of the official denial of alien big cat evidence on Bodmin Moor.
The skull was sent to the Natural History Museum in London for verification. They determined that it was a genuine skull from a young male leopard, but also found that the cat had not died in Britain and that the skull had been imported as part of a leopard-skin rug. The back of the skull was cleanly cut off in a way that is commonly used to mount the head on a rug. There was an egg case inside the skull that had been laid by a tropical cockroach that could not possibly be found in Britain. There were also cut marks on the skull indicating the flesh had been scraped off with a knife, and the skull had begun to decompose only after a recent submersion in water.

Ghostly Origin

There has been some speculation as to whether the animal is of ghostly origin. The creature makes the usual hissing and growling sounds of a large cat such as a panther or mountain lion, but also has made what sounds like a woman screaming.
The creature haunts one of the most popular sites of the world for ancient magical practices. The area is home to ancient stone circles and burial mounds. There also said to be giant tracts of land, shaped like figures of the zodiac that make up the area.
Miners who used to mine cobalt in the area for years reported the mines were full of demons, this is where the names 'kobolds' or mine goblins came from. Soldiers from the British army tracked and had the creature surrounded in a barn. The soldiers moved in towards the barn forming a circle as they neared it, when they entered the barn the creature had vanished.
The story about the creature vanishing after it was trapped inside a barn, could be a sign may be a spiritual or folkloric being. It could be possible that the creature found another way to escape, such as a mine shaft, since the area is a source of many old cobalt mines. It seems very strange though, that this creature has been documented many times on video, has left tracks and multiple dead animals, has been tracked by soldiers, and sharpshooters, and still not one has been captured or killed.

Recent sightings

Sightings of the Beast of Bodmin Moor continue. In October 1997, officials from Newquay Zoo claimed to identify paw prints left in mud to the south of Bodmin Moor as the tracks of a cougar. Soon after that discovery, an alleged photograph of the Bodmin Beast materialized, purporting to show an adult female cougar. The authenticity of this piece of evidence remains unconfirmed.

Popular culture

★ The Beast of Bodmin Moor was briefly mentioned in the cult film ''Dog Soldiers''.

★ The Beast of Bodmin Moor is the subject of a VISA commercial shot in Queenstown, New Zealand featuring Lance Henriksen.

★ The Beast of Bodmin Moor, a robot built by the team from Cornwall which also built Roadblock (robot), was a semi-finalist in BBC's Robot Wars.

★ The Beast of Bodmin Moor is the title of a 1997 video by Jethro (comedian).

See also

★ British Big Cats

★ Cryptozoology

★ Beast of Exmoor

External links

★ London Natural History Museum: Beast of Bodmin Moor

★ Cryptozoology and the Beast of Bodmin Moor