Linda Hellowell was driving home through Wheatley, Halifax, when she says she saw a black panther.

Her son Jonathan, 18, who was also in the car, saw the beast's tail.

Mrs Hellowell, 49, a catering assistant at Calderdale Royal Hospital, told of her shock at seeing the animal in the car headlights.

"I was so surprised," she said. "I could see its head and long tail. I thought 'That's a black panther'".

Mrs Hellowell, from Page Hill in Wheatley, was driving home from her mum's house when she saw the animal at Hebble Brook near the junction of Wood Lane and Larch Close in Wheatley.

Mother and son drove back to see if the animal was still there. But by then it had vanished.

Mrs Hellowell said: "I couldn't believe it. But I've spoken to other people and they said they've seen it too.

"It turned its head and body and I wondered if it had been killing all those pets."

Over the last three months, 17 pets –– rabbits and guinea pigs – have been killed across Halifax.

Police believe two dogs are behind the attacks and have traced their owners.

But doubts have been raised whether dogs alone could have caused the kind of damage seen to wooden hutches and runs.

Reports of a big cat prowling Calderdale have circulated for years.
The last was in April 2006 when a couple from Copley spotted what was believed to be a lynx.

In January that year, big-cat expert Paul Westwood was called to investigate what were believed to be the remains of a sheep attacked near the A681 between Clough Foot and Todmorden.

The remains were found scattered at a spot where a local man had heard growling.

A panther-like creature was reported around Shibden in December 2005. It followed sightings in Cunnery Woods, Hipperholme; Park Lane Road, Elland; Cragg Vale, Mytholmroyd; Goitside, Booth, Thornton village and Wyke.