Mystery puma stimulates Petersfield: Country diary 50 years ago
Hants-Sussex
The Petersfield area has been pleasantly stimulated by reports that a young, though full grown puma has been seen roaming the woods and heathlands near Milland and Liphook. There seems little doubt that such an interesting animal has been at large for some weeks. It is known to have killed two goats, eaten a dog, and raided some chicken houses. Human beings have been made unnecessarily apprehensive, for a puma has never been known to attack man, woman or child. A puma can kill a horse, and likes doing so. It hates dogs, and dogs have a deep instinctive fear of this large cat. W. H. Hudson, who has lived in the natural habitat of the puma, in Argentina and Patagonia, has given many examples of the curious affinity that pumas have for mankind. In one interesting case a horseman had been thrown, breaking his leg. He was alone on the pampas, and when he heard a jaguar roar he thought his chances were slim. Suddenly he was aware of a puma that had crept quietly up and was sitting beside him. Several times the jaguar approached, and each time the puma fought the jaguar off. In this way he saved the man’s life. Hudson tells of many other well authenticated cases of the puma’s strange love for man. I do not think we in Petersfield need be alarmed. I only wish I could have the good fortune to meet this particular puma. There are a good many wild deer in the Milland region, and no doubt the puma knows how to stalk these, his natural prey.
The Guardian, 30 October 1964 Photograph: The Guardian
There were numerous sightings of a mystery puma roaming the English countryside during the autumn of 1964, as shown on the following map published in The Observer.
The Observer, 11 October 1964. Click to read full story. Photograph: The Observer
Two years later the Guardian noted that the puma might in fact be a ‘galloping bloodhound’ (5 November 1966).