King Charles’ security is no doubt prepared for almost any situation, after all, you never know what kind of threats the king may face. However, one thing that they may not have considered was the possibility of a giant predator stalking the grounds of Charles’ country home.
Royal security is important, especially when you’ve got a large panther which has reportedly been spotted near the king and queen’s estate. According to an article from the Mirror, the beast was spotted by a dog walker near the Highgrove House in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. They claim they saw the big cat hunting a fox near the estate. Her three dogs apparently spooked the animal resulting in the panther retreating and the fox escaping.
The dog walker’s encounter was shared by big cat expert Rick Minter on his podcast where he investigates such sightings.
“A dog walker near Tetbury watched a black panther cornering a fox at dusk. Her three big dogs were on leads but they rumbled the cat, which rushed away and the fox emerged from its trapped situation and left the area keeping close to the walker and her dogs, seemingly wanting their company for safe escort.”
According to Rick, a similar situation was reported in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in which a black panther was spotted stalking a deer. Yet another incident near the M5 motorway in south Gloucestershire certainly suggests that there could be a big cat lurking in the local area.
Is King Charles in danger?
Instances of panther attacks are rare. Places like Florida, where the animal is more common have no confirmed cases of panther-human attacks according to floridapanther.org. However, the existence of the black panther is also a myth, it’s more likely that, if this really is a big cat in the U.K., then it is a leopard, jaguar, or even a Cheetah as only species with spotted coats can develop the mutation that makes their coat turn black.
However, attacks on humans from these animals are all also relatively rare so it’s unlikely the king or Queen’s lives are in danger from the predator supposedly stalking the lands around their home meaning they can go back to worrying about whatever Harry and Meghan are up to.
Is the big cat even real?
Of course, this is assuming that the eyewitness accounts are even to be trusted. In case you were unaware, predators like panthers and leopards are not native to the U.K. so there shouldn’t be any sightings of these creatures anywhere in the country. However, eyewitness accounts such as the dog walker’s story along with evidence such as livestock being killed have led to theories that big cats may have escaped from exotic pet collectors or zoos in the past and now roam the English countryside.
It sounds far-fetched, but even if it were true, the panther population would be incredibly low. The odds of ever encountering such a predator while walking the forests of the U.K. would be incredibly low it would seem.
