‘Big cat’ is spotted in Lincolnshire: Watch the moment a creature prowls through the countryside – sparking fears a mystery beast is on the loose

This is the jaw–dropping moment a ‘big cat’ is caught stalking the Lincolnshire countryside by a trail camera.

Barry Raynor, 65, set the camera up outside his home in Allington in an area used for releasing hedgehogs into the wild.

Yet it was something much larger that triggered the device last month, and the driving instructor knew what it was straight away.

‘I said ‘that was a big cat’, I was quite excited,’ he recalled.

‘For me, it looks like an animal the size of a Labrador, but I believe it is a cat species.

‘We had a big village debate in Allington – some people think it’s a lurcher, some people think it’s a big cat, some people think it’s somebody’s domestic moggie.’

He continued: ‘The only other cat I get on that camera is my own black and white domestic cat.

‘To get anywhere near the size of the one that’s on that image, my cat would have to stand on a log.’

This is the jaw–dropping moment a ‘big cat’ is caught stalking the Lincolnshire countryside by a trail camera

Britain’s community of big cat believers claim that the UK has its own wild population of large felids like panthers and pumas.

Mr Raynor is as convinced as any.

He said: ‘I think it’s a big cat. I sent the image to a website called My Big Cat Sightings and they think so too.

‘I have actually seen a big cat before – it was a panther in a town called Worksop about 20 years ago.

‘It was on the crest of a hill with a rabbit in its gob.’

The existence of a wild big cat population in Britain has not yet been proved.

There have been isolated cases of big cats being captured, but sceptics say they were illegally–kept exotic pets that escaped, or were released by their overwhelmed owners.

‘People really don’t want to think it is a big cat,’ said Mr Raynor.

Barry Raynor, 65, set the camera up outside his home in Allington in an area used for releasing hedgehogs into the wild. Yet it was something much larger that triggered the device last month, and the driving instructor knew what it was straight away

‘I wish I’d got a better nature cam that would’ve got a better image of it.

‘But they’re a lot more careful than we are.’

The Daily Mail has previously pinpointed the big cat sightings in the UK in past 20 years^[1], providing just a glimpse of the thousands of reports that date all the way back to the 1940s.

And in the last few years these claims have become more and more tangible thanks to an increasing amount of solid evidence – including new DNA evidence revealed earlier this year.

While big cat hunters claim the wild beasts roam the countryside, others remain unconvinced with some accusing the evidence of being flimsy or in some cases even photoshopped.

But that hasn’t stopped rumours swirling in some circles, with one seemingly far–fetched and as of today, still unconfirmed, tale suggesting one had taken down and killed a horse.