Big cat sightings

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/25/3458

Version Date: 31/07/2025

• Within the last 5 years, how many 'big cat' sightings have been recorded within the county of Dorset? (This would exclude anything regarding 'domestic-size' cats, with the report potentially mentioning either panther/black leopard, lynx or puma/mountain lion-type sightings/encounters)
  - Broken down by month and location if possible.
  
  • Could the approx. location of each sighting please be disclosed, as well as whether an officer followed-up, in-person, on the report - and if there was any outcome to the animal

The Performance & Analysis Department have provided the following information.

We have searched the given keywords within the Incident Description field of Storm and then removed any the false positives such as “Ford Puma car” and “Lynx deodorant”

Animal was last seen two days prior to call, no deployment was required.