The Beast of Trellech: Josh Hopkins scratched by a big cat (2000)

Trellech is a village in Monmouthshire, about 8 km south of Monmouth. In 2000 its woods already had a reputation. Danny Nineham, a big cat recorder from the Forest of Dean, said sightings there went back about seven years. In March, someone saw a large black cat near the ostrich farm outside the village.

Friday 11 August 2000. Josh Hopkins was 11. He and his brother Jeremy were looking for the family cat, Sylvester. In a field of long grass near home, Josh saw a black tail. He followed it.

The animal jumped up from the grass. A front paw struck his face. It left five long claw marks on his cheek. The Mirror later reported that he had been bitten too, and treated with antibiotics.

"I thought I was going to die," he told the Forest of Dean Review, which called it a juvenile leopard, a 5-foot animal. The Mirror's headline gave his account in his own words: "Its face was covered in blood and its breath smelled of rabbit guts. I thought it was going to kill me."

On 25 August, Gwent Police warned the public about a black, "leopard-like" animal. Nineham was called in to brief officers. A police helicopter with thermal imaging searched the fields. It found no trace.

More sightings followed. At The Narth, Denise Lewis watched an animal cross the road from the ostrich farm. "I know the difference between a cat and a dog and it was definitely feline the way it leapt into the woods." At Penyclawdd, a resident saw a very large black cat about 50 yards away before it disappeared into woodland. On 6 September, villagers met at The Lion Inn with PC Andrew Mason and two trackers from Zimbabwe.

That winter, sheep were killed at Talycoed. Puncture wounds measured more than two inches across. Nineham and a vet said the injuries were inconsistent with dog attacks. Sgt Mike Gray kept a plaster cast of a paw print. Inspector Peter Davies said police were "keeping an open mind." A BBC Wales documentary followed the hunt with night vision and hides. It was directed by Dave Howard and narrated by Honor Blackman. Howard was convinced. "I think there is definitely something out there, there is too much evidence to think otherwise."

Quentin Rose, a zoologist and scientific tracker, offered a gentler reading. The boy, Rose said, had been "reprimanded" rather than attacked. That sits awkwardly beside the Mirror's account of a bite. Rose believed big cats had been released in the 1970s after the law restricted private ownership, and put the number living wild in the UK at about 100. Sceptics point to the gaps. Reports disagree on which cheek was marked and on the animal's size. No hair, scat or DNA was found. Wikipedia notes there is "no substantive evidence proving these were in fact incidents caused by a non-domestic species of cat."

No animal was caught. No official finding was reported. Rose counted nine incidents where people had close aggressive encounters. In Trellech, one of them left five marks on an 11-year-old's cheek. The story is still retold today, sometimes under the spelling Trelleck.