dead sheep

[jimbeefish]

hi found this site while looking for information, ( excellent site by the way) my question is ... whilst walking in the lake district i come across 3 fully grown dead sheep all decapitated, from what i gather a fox could not kill a fully grown sheep so is that true or what else could do this, i know a dog could but the 3 carcasses were within 100yds of each other suggesting it was not a one off thing, any thoughts ? cheers jim

[ron1863]

Hi Jim and a warm welcome to WAB. I don't have a clue about the sheep as I don't know any predator that would just take the head

[jimbeefish]

hi ron, i think i used wrong word " decapitated" what i mean is the sheep were killed - eaten and the bones were scattered around, i cant imagine a fox chewing through large bone like that, whats worrying is walking about with a predator eying me up

[Hedge Witch]

Hi, a warm welcome to WAB
Try posting a copy of this question in "general wildlife" too, different members read different sections.
Hedge

[treecreeper]

Hi jimbeefish and welcome to the site . I suggest you approach the newspapers with your sheep story. Parliament is about to break up and by long tradition this is when the puma stories start appearing. it's usually Dartmoor; I'm not sure if the Lake District has had a 'beast'.

[Hedge Witch]

Is that true, TC

[treecreeper]

Hedgie, the Dartmoor Puma comes up every year about this time, usually accompanied by fuzzy photos which always look like domestic cats.

[brenbee]

hi jimbeefish, wonder If Its 1 of the big cats that folk say are roaming the country? I say this cos we once found the skull & jawbone of a deer up in Galloway, with blood still on it. There were what looked like a large cats footprints around it.

[jimbeefish]

hi all thanks for your replys, its got a few heads scratching here, i did a little research, and the only thing i found out was that the fell we climbed..
"Great Mell Fell" according to the book of lakeland fells, was that the last wild cat of cumberland was actually slain on this fell, (or was it the last one ) dont know what to make of it but i will not walk that fell in darkness alone

[The Woodman]

Cumbria certainly has had it's share of big cat stories. Many of these have been reported in the Westmorland Gazette. Pictures have been published of cats near Kendal Castle and Stainton. Multiple sightings in Beetham, Kendal and Shap come to mind. The best quote from one alledged sighting near Shap said, "It looked just like a labrador dog"!

A couple of years ago South Lakes had a number of Coati's on the loose. I saw one that had been shot, another was captured in a hen house and I have photos of one digging up the lawn of a large country house, another was photo'd resting on a branch up in an oak tree. I wonder how many sightings of these animals were put down to big cats?