Do you believe "big cats" live in this country?

[werdnal]

And I'm not talking about the overweight tabby next door!

Just listening to our local radio and someone spotted the elusive "Beast of Bodmin Moor" again this weekend. I've never seen anything myself, although a few years ago a friend swore something very large ran ahead of her car one night and jumped a 4 foot hedge.

There was a chap who lived just outside our village who kept 2 lions back in the 70's when it was legal. He refused to register them when the wild animals act came in and had them confiscated and taken to a zoo. I can quite believe that other illegal owners may have turned them out into the wild years ago.

Have you ever seen anything?

[Chris Hawes]

Never seen anything myself, but I remember talking with the owner of the Isle of Wight zoo a few years back who said he'd seen a (wild) puma on the Island, and seen lots of tracks and signs. They had a pair at the zoo, so I assume he could speak about them and identify them with some authority.

I also understand there have been a few cats killed in the wild: a swamp/marsh cat on Hayling Island killed by a car, and a lynx in Norfolk which was reported in the BBC Wildlife magazine earlier this year. The lynx was apparently shot by a farmer about 12 years ago, but was never made public at the time.

[Parus Ater]

Hmm, I know someone local to me who absolutely swears he saw what seemed to be a Black panther cross a small rural road he was driving on one winter's evening, he says it came out of one verge and slunk across the road, belly quite close to the ground and into the field on the opposite side. If he was making it up he has taken an awful lot of stick and teasing!

I am still pretty open minded about "big cats" and am not really sure either way. I don't know if any of the 'film footage' available is convincing enough or the kills that are attributed to Big Cats BUT it would be interesting if it turned out there were small populations of these cats living in some areas in Britain. The question then would be, would we tolerate them? Or capture or kill them? If there are any out there I think I would prefer it if we didn't find out either way, there surely would not be enough of them to have viable breeding populations and they would die out anyway?

[honeybee]

British Big Cats - British Big Cats Society, Prove and Protect, Big Cat Sightings, Official Website

In glos we have a police officer assigned for big cats because there have been so many sightings. There must have been some let go since the dangerous animals act and a few zoo escapees. There is some evidence but there's a lot of speculation and there are always hoaxers. I think sometimes evidence must get brushed under the carpet. I think there may be some out there, I suppose they die out when they can't breed. The situation can't be that big or we'd have a lot more hard evidence. I'm open minded!

[aeshna5]

Though I believe there have been genuine sightings of big cats, though many are hoaxes or genuine errors, I'm not so confident of breeding populations. Why no road casualties if there are that many around.

Personally I'd love to have Lynx back where it belongs + might help with deer + rabbit control.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Personally I'd love to have Lynx back where it belongs + might help with deer + rabbit control.

i agree with that ! ; )

[RobSutton]

Funny how few/none of the sightings come from the legions of birders who traipse through the countryside and who have good optics and are well used to judging size and distance in poor light - this makes me suspect that the majority are false sightings.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

Funny how few/none of the sightings come from the legions of birders who traipse through the countryside and who have good optics and are well used to judging size and distance in poor light - this makes me suspect that the majority are false sightings.

Well I'm a birder and I have seen one Rob Here in rural Cambridgeshire there are regular reported sightings of the so-called 'Fen Tiger' and, like you, I was always very sceptical about such things.

Until, that is, my own sighting about 6 or 7 years ago when I was walking my dog (a Weimaraner) and birding on the former airfield in our village.

The airfield is approx 900 acres of what was, at that time, relatively undisturbed grassland with several areas of woodland (some dense), a lake and several ponds. More recently it has been rented out to a local farmer and used for grazing cattle and sheep. However, at the time of my sighting I was one of a handful of people with access permission (although unused it was still MOD land) and I went birding and walked my dog there on a regular basis.

On that particular day I went to a part of the site where I had seen Short-eared Owls several times - quite a large clearing surrounded by trees and with grass and scrub standing knee-high. As I was scanning the perimeter of the clearing with my binoculars my dog ran off into the grass and disturbed a fairly large cat-like creature approx 30 metres from where I stood and which sprinted off. I had a clear view of the top of its back, its head and its very long tail. It was a plain beige colour with a relatively small head and a cheetah-like build (ie. relatively long thin body). It must have been at least two feet tall (to the shoulders) as I could see it above the grass and it was certainly taller than my dog. Thankfully my dog did not give chase - I think she was more scared than I was!

On returning home I told my wife about it but no one else (for fear of being regarded as 'a bit of a nutter'). However, soon after the local farmer started grazing his animals on the land I bumped into him there one day and mentioned my sighting to him and asked if he'd seen anything. He hadn't and, sure enough, he gave me that 'bit of a nutter' look

Then, some months later, he came round to my house one evening to tell me he'd had several sheep killed with their throats torn out and that he'd been in touch with someone who monitors big-cat sightings and who said this was a classic sign of big-cat predation!

To this day I have no idea what it was but I'm no longer quite so sceptical.

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by JeffH

Well I'm a birder and I have seen one Rob Here in rural Cambridgeshire there are regular reported sightings of the so-called 'Fen Tiger' and, like you, I was always very sceptical about such things.

Until, that is, my own sighting about 6 or 7 years ago when I was walking my dog (a Weimaraner) and birding on the former airfield in our village.

To this day I have no idea what it was but I'm no longer quite so sceptical.

I knew as soon as I posted it somebody would contradict me! I guess until you see one yourself you never really know. I'm not sure whether I would be excited or scared by it? I know my dog would run a mile if anything bigger than a squirrel said boo to her.

I'm not sure how you would distinguish big cat kill from dog kill though. One of my neighbours up here in the Dales recently lost forty sheep to a dog - a Saluki (spelling is no doubt horribly wrong) to be precise. Some had been killed outright, others so badly mauled they had to be put down. They did eventually manage to shoot it so they know this was dog not cat.

[AndyC]

There have been so many "sightings" but as yet no hard evidence

Originally Posted by Chris Hawes

The lynx was apparently shot by a farmer about 12 years ago, but was never made public at the time.

Why not, was it a cover up. It's worse than the X Files, our very own area 51
Where are the road kills, why have fox hounds never flushed one or anybody out lamping shot one.
Unexplained sheep kills with the throat torn out, just as likely to be devil worshippers!
I spend a lot of time fishing in areas where these "sightings" have been made, often on my own, and while pretty much everything imaginable has wandered by without spotting me (including shy things like otters, foxes and courting couples) I have yet to see a big cat. The same goes for all my friends.

You have more chance of seeing father christmes come down your chimney

Yours a non believer

Andy