Pumas on Dartmoor - Dartmoor Letterboxing Archive

The Ghost Returns

2016-09-20 19:02:17

Daily Telegraph 22nd July 2016 - "Chipperfield and the tale of pumas 'lost' on Dartmoor"

Circus owner said to have freed three cats into the wild as they were being taken to a new home in 1978. Claims that ferocious felines are at large may turn out to be true, and the mystery of how they got to Dartmoor, and near by Exmoor and Bodmin Moor, solved at last. It is now said that three pumas were released on Dartmoor by Mary Chipperfield, the famous circus owner, after her zoo in Plymouth was forced to shut down in 1978. The large cats had been in transit to their new home on the moor - but only two out of a consignment of five animals arrived. It is thought MS. Chipperfield released her favourite breeding pair and another male into the wild rather than surrendering them to another owner. Could the rumour be true?

Does anyone have any sightings of pumas or any other sightings of strange animals roaming the moor.

I did come face to face with a badger on Fox Tor!

Gaffer2

2016-09-24 19:43:50

I saw a variation on the Telegraph article a few weeks back. Can't remember where. It said that the third/last big cat had died. It attributed sightings in the past of "The Beast of Bodmin Moor" to those ex-Chipperfield big black cats. But, alas, no more.

I was myself on Dartmoor in July. Quite possibly I'd qualify as a strange animal. I'd like to disagree but I can't find grounds to do so.