From: This is Croydon
Leading big cat expert Neil Arnold this week revealed to the Advertiser that he received regular reports of sightings of large black felines in green areas of the borough.
And earlier this month – on the evening of August 19 – a dog trainer driving past Croydon Airport reported seeing what she thought was a cougar or black leopard lurking in the undergrowth.
Mr Arnold said the viability of the recent sighting was very possible.
He explained: “Many cats’ primary hunting time is dusk, and so black leopards, cougars and pumas which are out there in the wild would have more potential to be spotted in the early evening, when the Croydon Airport cougar was sighted.”
The woman who spotted the beast, whose identity Mr Arnold agreed to keep anonymous, said the animal was most definitely not a dog and was bigger than a labrador.
Unfortunately, investigations trawled up nothing and the sighting could neither be confirmed nor dismissed.