On August 8, the Dennis clan encountered a strange creature in woods off Church Road, near where we live. (This picture is an "artist's impression" from the Croydon Guardian - nothing to do with us!) I wrote this account of it for the Guardian's G2 section (they didn't use it in the end):
On Saturday afternoon, as a way of sweetening the grim reality of a trek to Homebase, I was walking with my wife Helen and two children, aged 10 and two, through some public woodland near our home in south-east London.
Suddenly our eldest boy stopped in his tracks. “What’s that?”
“God - it’s massive!” exclaimed my wife. Whatever it was disappeared into the bushes, then reappeared, and was now walking slinkily and confidently towards us.
We legged it. “Want to see the cat! Want to see the cat!” shouted the toddler, who’d been bundled back into his pushchair.
I didn’t get a good look at it, but the others said it was the size of a labrador.
As a journalist (I present the Guardian’s daily news podcast), I’m hugely sceptical of unconfirmed sightings of anything, let alone a wild animal a stone’s throw from my front doorstep. And I’m aware that during the silly season, news stories about big cats are right up there with crop circles and UFOs.
And yet ... after some deliberation we called the police, who took it seriously, and dispatched a team to search the woods.
A mile away, back in 2005, a man was mauled by a 5ft-long feline later nicknamed “the Beast of Sydenham”.
Shaun Stevens, a researcher for the investigative network Big Cats in Britain, says: “We get two or three a day reported to us. We’re getting reports from Lands End to John O’Groats.”
And in Crystal Palace?
“We’re getting regular sightings in that area of big black cats.
“It’s not impossible that it’s a black leopard, but there are thousands of designer cats out there, hybrids. Sleek creatures, about twice the size of a domestic cat.
Were we in danger?
“No. It doesn’t view us as prey. They live mainly on small mammals and game birds. The occasional deer or sheep.”
Still. We’re not going to Homebase again!
The Lovely Mrs Dennis began a discussion about the episode on the excellent community website Virtual Norwood, which then triggered a series of reports in the local press:
10.08.09, Croydon Guardian: 'Palace Puma' big cat spotted in Crystal Palace woodland
10.08.09, News Shopper: Mystery over 'Palace Puma' big cat sighting
12.08.09, News Shopper: CRYSTAL PALACE: Online debate hints at second puma sighting
12.08.09, Croydon Guardian: Second Crystal Palace puma sighting?
13.08.09, Totally Obviously (blog): A Puma in the Palace?
14.08.09, Transmitter (blog - do watch this video, it's hilarious): The Beast of SE19
20.08.09, Croydon Guardian: 'Crystal Palace Puma' is a panther, big cat expert says
07.09.09, News Shopper: CRYSTAL PALACE: Another 'Palace Puma' big cat sighting
15.09.09, Croydon Guardian: Crystal Palace 'big cat' may be dog
19.09.09, The Londonist: The Crystal Palace 'Puma'
09.06.10, Streatham Guardian: First summer sighting of Palace puma
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