11:26am Thursday 5th July 2007
LIVESTOCK keepers in the Bromsgrove and Droitwich areas and right across the UK are being asked to take part in an on-line survey to see whether or not they believe in the existence of wild big cats that have been blamed for killing a lamb belonging to controversial TV chef Gordon Ramsay.
The F-Word star's lamb, called Charlotte - after Welsh singer Charlotte Church - was being grazed on the Hertfordshire estate of David and Victoria Beckham when it was attacked.
At first suspicion fell on rottweilers owned by the former England captain and his Spice Girl wife but veterinary evidence suggested otherwise.
An autopsy specialist could not rule out an attack by a big cat and stories soon emerged of big cat sightings in the area.
In the August issue of Smallholder magazine - on sale now at all leading newsagents - the big cat theory is examined in detail, with reports of sightings from across the UK. And the magazine asks readers who have lost livestock in mysterious circumstances, or who believe they have seen a big cat roaming wild, to post details on its web site (www.smallholder.co.uk).
To date there haven't been any local sightings reported to your Advertiser/Messenger, although there has in past year's been a reported sighting of a big cat in the Inkberrow area, while in Bromsgrove there have been reports of wild boars roaming local woods.
Peter Trevail, who researched the article for Smallholder - part of the Newsquest Media Group, who also own the Advertiser/Messenger - said: "There are many people who believe that big cats previously kept as pets were released into the wild following the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1971. In Cornwall, MP Paul Tyler - now Lord Tyler - submitted a dossier to the government about the so-called Beast of Bodmin.
"The attack on Gordon Ramsay's lamb has brought the issue firmly into the national spotlight and we're anxious to find out from our readers just how much evidence there is to support the theory that big cats are roaming free in the British countryside.
"Smallholder has thousands of readers across the UK, many in isolated rural areas, and if there are big cats roaming the countryside they are more likely to know about it than anyone else."
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