Natalie said the beast ran down the dirt track that links Doe Hey Road to Harper Green Road, between Higher and Lower Doe Hey Reservoirs.
Promoted stories
Shaken, Natalie returned home to Carnation Road, Farnworth, where she told mum and dad, Linda and Ray, about the encounter.
“I was trembling when I got in,” she said. “I told them about what had happened and they said something like that had been seen before.”
Natalie’s mum and dad found a picture of a black panther online, which Natalie confirmed as looking similar to what she had seen.
“I didn’t know there was anything like that around here – that other people had seen things,” she added.
“There are playing fields near where I saw it. It’s scary when you think that children play around there.
“You hear of these animals in jungles, but you wouldn’t think anything like that could live in Bolton.”
Danny Bamping of The British Big Cat Society has previously told the Bolton News that it’s ‘quite likely’ the Beast of Bolton exists.
Do you believe in the Beast of Bolton - and have you seen it? Add your thoughts below.
There have been several notable previous sightings:-
In June 2006, head of English at Rumworth School, Anne Wright, said she saw the creature as she looked out of the bedroom window of her home in Spring Meadows, off Radcliffe Road in Darcy Lever.
After a three year hiatus, the beast was back in 2009, when Peter Wood, of Poulton Avenue, Breightmet, spotted the animal in Leverhulme Park.
Around the same time, Barry Calvert said he spotted it near the Schoenstatt Shrine, in Kearsley.
In October 2010, Hollands Nurseries worker Barbara Cooke she saw a panther-like animal in a field in Bromley Cross.
http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/14023866._It_had_greedy__yellow_eyes____Beast_of_Bolton_spotted_after_5_year_absence_by_terrified_driver/