Big Cat On The Loose

I'm always reading stories about sightings of "big cats" in the British Countryside.  We had one of these incidents recently when a mangled deer carcase was found.  DNA testing proved that it was "a fox wot done it", but still the rumours go on.

Beast

A carcase lies splayed,

Deer dismembered,

Limbs at every angle,

Throat ripped out, entrails spilled,

Ribs exposed, gnawed and bloody,

Mouth grimaced in violent death.

No stoat, no weasel here,

Nor fox nor badger

Could cause such carnage,

Nor hunt, stalk, then haul down

Such heavy prey,

Nor rip and tear the flesh,

Leaving this grisly damage.

No hair, no skin, no tracks,

Neither teeth-marks, nor DNA,

No photos, prints or evidence,

But dogs, nervous, set to barking

As if there’s something there,

And rough men with guns

Shake their heads

And pull meaningful faces,

As if to say, knowingly,

A killer stalks these woods and fields,

Creature unseen, sly and stealthy,

Sleuth-like, sloping, sliding,

Slipping through trees,

A reported shape, a shadow

Large, long and lean,

Cunning, catlike killer,

Black, background-blending,

Fierce, feline, feral hunter,

Glimpsed in the greenery.

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2012