A LAMB was savaged in what is believed to be a big cat attack.

A farming family is now convinced one of their flock was attacked by a panther.

The ‘Beast of Bockhampton’ struck in a field close to Jean and Tony Waterman’s farm in what is believed to be a major new twist in Dorset’s big cat mystery.

A single lamb was taken from the Watermans’ flock and the behaviour of the sheep afterwards left the couple – who run Pine Lodge Farm and Tearooms in Bockhampton – suspecting they had been paid a visit by an unusual predator.

Hours before the attack, one of their customers Ella Davies, of Puddletown, claims she saw a big cat a quarter of a mile away in Higher Bockhampton.

Mrs Davies, who teaches students about horse care at Kingston Maurward College near Dorchester said: “It looked like a panther.

“Its shoulders moved like a cat’s while it walked and it was stealthy.

“It was definitely not a dog or a fox – it was too big and dark and it didn’t move like those animals do.”

Mrs Davies added that it is the second time she has spotted the creature after a similar encounter near Tincleton a few days earlier.

The Watermans say the lamb’s wounds seemed to be consistent with a big cat attack.

Jean Waterman, 54, said: “We all said it didn’t look like a dog or fox attack because the sheep weren’t worried afterwards.

“It was like in Africa when a lion kills animals and the others look calm. We’ve had dogs attack the sheep before and they’ve been upset for weeks.”

The Watermans believe the attack happened in the early hours because rigor mortis was still to set in when they came across the lamb carcass early in the morning.

They say the lamb didn’t die of natural causes because the flock is inspected twice a day and all the sheep were healthy.

Now they are worried that the big cat will return.

Jean added: “It’s left me wondering whether it will come back or not. Whatever it was probably won’t eat for five or six days now.

“We have a few sheep and cattle and you do wonder whether the cat will try and do the same thing.”

Vet Duncan Reavell, of Poundbury-based Lynwood Vets, said he is remaining open-minded about the existence of big cats.

He said: “Any carnivore that needs food is going to strike in a place where food is found.

“Foxes don’t take that many lambs or farmers would be in big trouble. If it was a fox then it would probably attack in a different way.

“Canines, including dogs and foxes, tend to bite all over and cause a lot of damage to enforce a kill.

“Cats tend to kill more precisely and will go for the jugular and make a quick kill.”

On viewing pictures of the lamb carcass, which were not suitable for publishing in this newspaper, he said there was no sign of damage to the limbs, which would be more common in an attack from a fox or a badger.

“The predator has shown a preference for the soft succulent internal organs, neatly eviscerating the lamb and obviously taking time to have a real feast,” he said.

Big cat expert Merrily Harpur, author of Roaring Dorset! Encounters With Big Cats, said about 85 per cent of the ‘big cats’ reported in the county are black and they are roughly the size of a German Shepherd dog.

The Cattistock resident added: “They are a genuine mystery and the commonest encounter with the unknown in this century. No one knows where they came from, except that people kept them as pets. The only way they could guarantee that the cat wouldn’t come back to Bockhampton would be to set up a night-vision camera.

“No-one’s ever seen a picture of a big cat eating another animal.”