Another "Big Cat" Thread

[Farplace]

It's in the Sun, so it must be true. I would be interested to hear what folks think about this video

[willowjay]

Interesting that no one has yet put their head above the parapet to comment, so I don't mind being shot down in flames - this is the clearest (and convincing?) footage I've seen.

There - fire away.

[Deb London]

I'm confused as I don't get what they are saying about size, and it moves like a moggy. But, hey, I'm a big cat believer, so I'd love to have got this wrong.

[fairplay]

I'm convinced it is genuine (untouched film) and I'm convinced it shows a medium cat. So a young Puma or hybrid of sorts. It was 'zoomed in' with the result anything in the background looks bigger compared to anything (fox) in the foreground and they failed to point out this known effect.

Neil.

[Jonathan]

Why is this not a black lurcher? Quality's not good (why is it that all 'big cat' videos are of such poor quality?) but it looks too leggy to me for a black leopard, jaguar or puma (not that I've ever seen a melanistic puma?). It's definately not a lion, tiger, snow leopard or cheetah. Watch a leopard, for example, their bodies tend to be quite low-slung, not like the animal on this video. As for the long tail, I've seen lurchers with tails that touched the floor when the dog was stood up.

So it could be a big cat - a creature that has yet to be photographed living wild in the UK. Or it could be a lurcher, dogs that are frequently lost when they take off after deer or foxes, or are deliberately turfed out by calous owners if they're deemed not good enough. I know which one my money's on . . .

Cheers
Jonathan

Neil.[/quote]

[solus]

There's been a load of guff on this on the "local rag" site over the past day or so. It's that "expert" who's never even found a "big cat" (but who apparently published a book on the subject recently [or his mate did] and gives "talks" to interested local groups. I don't think there are many who take him all that seriously!

Gloucestershire big cat footage examined by experts | This is Gloucestershire

I took a photo on Sunday afternoon from the top of Crickley Hill on the edge of the Cotswolds above Gloucester, zoomed in to show the (little) remaining snow lying in the furrows of a pasture field with horses. When I looked at it later on the PC I noticed a big black dog (which I hadn't been aware of at the time - I was in a hurry to get back in the car as it was cold!) looking at the gee-gees. I could pretty easily string it as a "Big Cat" if I was so inclined!!

[DorsetDunk]

If a law was brought in to ban all moggies from the right to roam ie keep the pet cat on the owners property would the sightings of big cats fall ?
what other pet do we allow to roam the countryside that is so destructive and disruptive to our resident wildlife, where lazy pet owners can hide so smugly behind the law with even the rspb advertising now trying to gain their support
I am beginning to think all big cat sightings are a subconscious cry for help from the public to rid our countryside of these alien predators
If big cats do exist its a pity they are not munching on more moggies which would be a good incentive for cat owners to keep their pets under control
as no other pet is allowed such free reign under UK laws

[eeyore]

I dont get how they make that a leopard - they demonstrate that its the same size as the cut out - and thats less than knee height on a man and no more than a couple of feet long

ie its a cat - and quite a big domestic cat at that - but its not a 'big cat'

also why are all these videos so out of focus (theres a similar sighting on the sun site of a mammoth in siberia which is quite clearly really a bear with a fish)

[solus]

Originally Posted by eeyore

also why are all these videos so out of focus (theres a similar sighting on the sun site of a mammoth in siberia which is quite clearly really a bear with a fish)

Seemples! Because if they were in focus we'd all see them for what they are and no-one would be fooled!

It's a bit like those folk who see a bird in their garden in deepest Englandshire that is unfamiliar to them, look at the pictures in "My Big Book of Birds of the World" and insist they have had a Kiwi or a Roadrunner on the bird table and won't be told otherwise! So... discount the most likely and common explanation (dog, domestic moggy), ignore the less likely (deer, melanistic fox) and Bingo! Big Black Panther!!!

I assume bears in Siberia are much more common than Woolly Mammoths, which, if I remember, would have made Jumbo the Elephant look small, and if it's somewhere a human can reach with a video camera anyone with a modicum of intelligence would surely wonder why no other Woolly Mammoths had been spotted before...

Never mind, it'll soon be Spring and the Scottish tourist people will revive Nessie to encourage the visitors away from that running and jumping thing in London!

[Jim Ford]

Looks like an ant to me on the video. OK a Big Ant, so maybe it's a wood ant!

(God - people are so gullible!)

Jim