Terrifying black cat ‘as big as a Great Dane’ spotted prowling UK canal

For years, urban legends about a massive black cat roaming the Yorkshire countryside have swirled, scaring locals and intriguing the nation.

Yesterday, Thursday, June 18, marked the latest sighting of a giant black cat in the historic county.

Laura Page, from Doncaster, was left “pretty scared” after spotting the giant black cat, described as big as a Great Dane.

She was out walking with her 16-year-old nephew in Barnby Dun, a village in Doncaster, when she saw the beast crossing a bridge over the canal.

Laura didn’t manage to get a photo but told the Yorkshire Post: “It went over a bridge, we only had sight of it for probably five seconds, it was like a small Great Dane.

“It was only after we seen it we just thought that was a big cat and a helicopter starting circling so god knows if that knew too.

“I was pretty scared but my nephew wasn’t so that chilled me. On our way back we told two ladies and they said we wasn’t the first people to say this.”

It follows a number of alleged sightings elsewhere in Yorkshire. Last February a strange creature spotted by a walker in fields near Selby.

Steve Weston, who lives in the town, was walking home from work when he spotted a large black figure “lumbering” across the other side of a field.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. It was completely bizarre,” he told The Press at the time.

“When I saw it I though to myself, what on earth is that?” he added.

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Steve said that the animal was “far too large”, to be a dog, and said that it didn’t have similar movements to any animals that he has seen around the area before.

“It looked to be absolutely huge, it is just unexplainable. It looked to be really muscular,” Steve added.

In 2016 a mysterious animal was spotted prowling the fields of Ryedale. “I haven’t seen anything like that before,” said 46-year-old Michael Armitage.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed in 2010 that the evidence suggested a panther-like creature could be responsible for an attack on a sheep near Ravensworth, Richmond.

All that was left of the sheep was its skeleton. Flesh had been stripped from the remains of the sheep.

PC John Wilbor, rural crime officer for North Yorkshire Police, said at the time: “The evidence seems to fit with a possible big cat attack.”