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First attack - February 2002 A MYSTERY animal brought terror to a Wiltshire village in February 2002, earning the title 'The Minety Monster'. The beast savaged 22 animals on farms around Minety in just one week. The animal was never seen but local farmers speculated that a huge dog was responsible for the killings. However, local vet Richard Pearson thought the creature may be a cat and in March 2002 there were numerous reports of a big cat in the Minety area. Philip Scott, 43, who owns Ferndale Farm, Minety, discovered two ewes dead on Tuesday, February 19, and moved his flock of 250 on to different land, only to find ten more dead the following Saturday. On the same day, Martin Francis, who kept a flock of ewes nearby, found seven dead. On Monday, February 18, Mr Scott's brother, Bill, 52, of Ravenshurst Farm, Minety, discovered two ewes and a lamb had been killed. "It is frightening because once a dog starts killing it doesn't stop. I have never seen anything as bad as this, this is vicious," said Bill Scott. One lamb had been chased a quarter of a mile and left in a brook. It was found floating with one of its shoulders torn out and it had been bitten in the throat. Mr Scott said the bite marks on the animals are too large for a fox, and believes the attacker must be a dog killing for sport, as none of the sheep had been eaten. Another ewe had been chased a quarter of a mile and left with its shoulder ripped out and its ribs cracked, while another lamb had been chased half a mile before being killed. One injured sheep survived, and was found floating upside down in the water with neck wounds. Second attack THE Minety Monster was thought to have been responsible for a further death in May 2002, when a deer was found savaged and stripped. Former African game warden Wayne Beardmore, now living in Charlton, found the deer and said in his experience that a big cat was responsible for its death. Mr Beardmore said the similarities between the deer - found on the roadside between Ashton Keynes crossroads and Wootton Bassett - and those carcasses he saw when he worked as a game warden in Kenya were too great to be a coincidence. "I have seen many sorts of kills and the way it has been killed is just too similar," he said. "For a fox to have done that damage is not likely." His expert opinion has added weight to speculation that the so-called Minety Monster, a mysterious animal that has slain sheep and in the Minety area, is a big cat. Mr Beardmore, 28, will has offered his services to the police if any further carcasses are found. "I know what they can do and I know how clever they are. They are highly intelligent animals," he said, adding that big cats have large territories and the same one could have easily travelled from Minety to Ashton Keynes, a distance of about six miles." The carcass of the munkjack deer, which would have been about the size of a greyhound, had been stripped except for the head and the ears had been chewed, which is the trademark of a leopard or lion. "When a leopard eats its kill that is what will be left," said Mr Beardmore. In March 2002, there were four reports of a big cat the size of an Alsatian dog in the Minety area. But in Mr Beardmore's opinion, the Minety Monster is not a threat to the public, as it has learned to avoid human contact. |
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