Big Cats Living As Wild In The Uk

[danthekeeper]

Originally Posted by Farplace

It was much bigger than a border collie, and it was feline. An unaccompanied dog amongst the flock would have caused panic. I think the sheep were unconcerned about this cat because it was not hunting.
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Prey animals will often continue feeding etc in an unconcerned manner when a predator is present I have seen it many times (pheasant and fox) and it is as if they know they are not being hunted

[darrenm]

agree with danthekeepr and have also seen predators moving amongst prey species without them showing any concern.

What i do not understand with a lot of Big Cat sightings is the colouration and the witness reports mostly suggest these 'outsize feline's' are black when encountered which seems to be 'odd' and in itself is a very rare thing other than in domestic cats and melanisim is not a common feature of any large cat species other than in the Jaguar.

I recently read Mystery Big Cats by Merrily Harper out of sheer curiosity and the author offers a totally radical soloution to many of the sightings, which i do not fully swallow but who knows.

[darrenm]

when i saw what i considered to be pug marks on both occasions they were in wet sand and in area's 'off limits' to the public, one area is very,very remote with no habitation for miles and the other is in an area very well watched by our armed forces and any stray dog would soon be found and rounded up. What left them i dont know but do still consider that they were possible large cat prints. Both sets were seen by others and they came to the same conclusion, it was in the days before pocket digital cameras and now wish they had been about then.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by darrenm

What i do not understand with a lot of Big Cat sightings is the colouration and the witness reports mostly suggest these 'outsize feline's' are black when encountered which seems to be 'odd' and in itself is a very rare thing other than in domestic cats and melanisim is not a common feature of any large cat species other than in the Jaguar.

there are probably a few reasons for that

a) the public perception that these beasts are black is well entrenched so people may perceive them to be black even when they arent as a result of expectation and prejudice.

and

b) most of these sightings are either at night, at dawn/dusk, or under forest canopy - all low light situations - and the rod cells that our eyes use for low light vision arent great for colour perception so a cat which is actually tawny brown or grey might well seem black

c) and thirdly by the nature of the british habitat iot is likely that many of these cats would be either muddy or wet, both of which would darken the natural colouring

[emma84]

There defo is big cats in britain. I saw 1 a few weeks ago with my mum , it was'nt huge but was about the size of my labrador not a built as him though , quite slender , must be a panther type. It was black with a really long tail . I could'nt belive it . Now i'm obsessed lol . and the worst bit is i'd recently broke my fone so did'nt get a pic . even if I did have a camera I was in to much shock to take a picture . x

[treecreeper]

Originally Posted by emma84

There defo is big cats in britain. I saw 1 a few weeks ago with my mum , it was'nt huge but was about the size of my labrador not a built as him though , quite slender , must be a panther type. It was black with a really long tail . I could'nt belive it . Now i'm obsessed lol . and the worst bit is i'd recently broke my fone so did'nt get a pic . even if I did have a camera I was in to much shock to take a picture . x

Welcome to WAB Emma

How far away was your big cat?

[emma84]

About 15 ft . was defo a big cat , stared at it for about a minute . at first i thought it was a dog , but realised it was a cat then tryed to picture my cat standing where it was and then realised it was a big cat , plus the tail must have been around 2 and a half foot . it was amazing . I live in a rural area just outside Glasgow but this was a 5 min walk away from my house and it was during the day . I would also say It did'nt look as if it would attack it just stared at me waiting for me to pass.

[emma84]

Originally Posted by treecreeper

Welcome to WAB Emma

How far away was your big cat?

It was actually to the left of where my dog is standing in my profile picture. In the grass n bushes. I do this walk twice aday up and down to school . There was also a sighting 2 weeks before me , I later found this out . I have been looking around down there all the time now and have found 2 trees with the bark shedded off quite high up the tree I have took picture's of them . I know deers mark tree's to but it's defo not deer the marking are different . The other thing I forgot to say is, it's eyes were so yellowy green , thats how i also new it was not a dog .

[Billabong Karen]

Thought I'd add my bit... I have been working at a school in Germany, right beside a huge hilly/wooded area. Last year there was major drama when a BROWN BEAR was sighted, not once but by several different people. The hunters were out in force, people were advised to keep their children and dogs out of the woods. All kinds of evidence was given in support - sightings, photos (very poor), hair, poo, trees damaged by scratches - in the end it turned out the brown bear was in fact a large wild boar (which are very common in the area).

I know this is not the same as the big cats in Britain story - but it does show how easy it is to mistake one thing for another, particular in the dark or half-dark. Personally, I'll believe the whole thing when one of the big cats is actually physically brought as evidence, not just sightings or dodgy photos.

[eeyore]

Theres an article on the frront page of our local paper today about a guy who reckons he saw a big cat on his neighbour's garage roof in Seaton (note a large pinch of salt is required for this account)

He says " he first spotted the animal (about 3 times the size of a domestic cat) at 11.30 pm on wednesday... when it stood up the tile creaked... I hissed at it and the cat moved to the garden fence..it then leapt towards me legs outstretched and I ran for it.... this was no ordinary cat i believe it to be a puma or a leopard"

one or two inconsistencies there , like the fact that a puma is about 20 times the size of a domestic cat and a leopard bigger still, and neither species would be able to balance on a garden fence, plus there's no way a man would out run a puma or a leopard that was leaping towards him.

Not to mention that last wednesday at 11.30pm it was raining stair rods and blowing a hooley, and it was also dark - so he'd have done well to see anything on a garage roof.

this comes on the back of last weeks paper where a bloke photographed a "black leopard"- which from the head shape was patently nothing of the sort - in a feild near axminster

So i'd say that this weeks guy is either paranoid and just saw a big black tom cat, or he made the whole thing up. - The paper doesnt help by illustrating these stories with a stock picture of a black panther.

I do belive that there are some big cats at large in the uk , but this kind of fantasy does little to help the credibility of any sighting