Big Cat Sighting

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

I DID see a rozzer, honest! I had my pocket camera with me but shock and amazement overcame me!

A fleeting glimpse in poor light of a parking warden, can easily be interpreted by the gullible as a policeman on the beat!

Jim

[RobS]

Ah yes the observation of a jobsworthius twattus is a sight to behold

[Yashca]

I used to have no time for stories about big cats in Britain, but after reading a few articles by Darren Naish on Tetrapod Zoology, I am more open to the possibility.

Darren Naish is a Zoologist, and has his own blog, Tetrapod Zoology, that I would suggest for everyone to have a read of.

He covers some excellent stuff - introduced species for example, and he also has done a series of posts on identifying 'sea monster' carcasses - which once again you should all read.

In essence, I think he's a good scientist and is very level headed, which is why I think his articles on British Big Cats are worth a good read.

Darren Naish: Tetrapod Zoology: British big cats: how good, or bad, is the evidence?

The Cupar roe deer carcass

[tcvarlh]

"O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!"

"And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Perhaps ?
h

[gez]

Show me the proof,
& why are they always black? where are the spotted big cats..

[STYRBJORN]

Originally Posted by Farplace

As an aside – has anyone seen other “out-of-place” animals in the UK. I saw a raccoon a while back, and have heard reports of wallabies in this area (but never seen them).

Skunks in Herefordshire. May be breeding!

[Dorts]

Originally Posted by gez

& why are they always black? ..

Read my piece gez.
Dorts.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by snackdahl

Previous to this encounter, I was on holiday in Scotland at a place called Kilmichael Glassary (near Lochgilphead) where I was warned by a Forestry worker not to walk my dogs in the direction that I was heading as there were "numbers of big cats regularly seen". Later that night I was woken with a start by a noise outside of the cottage window, only to find a couple of badgers noisily rooting around in the garden!

I lived in Kilmichael Glen a few miles north of Kilmichael Glassary for several years. Whilst I was there a guy wrote an article for the "Countryman's Weekly" (then known as Shooting News) claiming that there were big cats roaming the neighbouring Kilmartin Glen. I was working for a pitance for a conservation organisation at the time and made up my money by killing foxes for local farmers (at that time Scottish farmers were still willing to pay for decent fox control). I lamped both Kilmichael and Kilmartin glens on a very regular basis during the autumn and winter, sometimes six nights a week. I saw many things over the years that could not be immediately explained, but nothing that - after severe scrutiny - didn't turn out to be a fox/ deer/sheep/wildcat/dog/tree/light on a hill/star on the horizon or an incredible variety of animate and inanimate objects!

It wasn't only me that didn't see anything. My uncle was the FC's conservation officer for the area, liasing with many landowners, foresters, farmers, keepers, etc. None of them had seen anything either. Yet one guy claimed there was not one but several big cats in the area. He even described them calling at night! I wonder whether he'd ever heard a fox scream, or a sika stag whistle or - even more unusual - one of the sika/red deer hybrids that occurred in the area?

If big cats were widespread in the UK it would be gamekeepers, lampers, fishermen, etc. who are out and about at night or early hours of the morning who would see them, not - as is so often the case - someone on holiday from the town, or someone driving through the countryside at night.

Having said that . . . a gamekeeper I know from Norfolk was burying a dead laborador in the woods for an elderly neighbour. He left the carcass by the wood whilst he went on his rounds, intending to bury it when he got back. On his return the dog had disappeared! It had been dragged some distance into cover and partly consumed. He's as sceptical about big cats as me, but has no explanation for the incident.

Cheers
Jonathan

[RobS]

It had been dragged some distance into cover and partly consumed. He's as sceptical about big cats as me, but has no explanation for the incident.

Team Red Kite!

Liked your post, if you haven't seen anything then I think it's QED!!

[bigdave60dog]

Over the years I have had three definite encounters. The first was the day of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement re Ulster when my wife and me watched a cat very like the one that is described by the originator of the thread walking casually across a field not far from Newquay Wales. There was no doubt that it was a cat as we watched the typical cat tail carriage and flowing muscular movements as it strolled between the grazing cattle.
The next was of a night a few years later when I was woken up at night by a big cat type of "roar/snarl" repeated every few seconds from close to our stables in rural Warwickshire. I decided that all of our stock was safe and that I had to be up early the next morning so went back to sleep. I then slept through the sound of the Police Helicopter searching for the Big Black cat that several motorists had reported to be walking on the road near to our house.
A few years before that we kept a large flock of sheep. This encounter explained two things that had puzzled me for a long time. I habitually walked the sheep at least once every day. Occasionally I would find the contents of a ewes stomach in the sheep field. Not just "cud" but the whole contents of a rumen and other stomachs -no blood, no mess, just stomach contents.. When the ewes were next in for routine maintenance we would be one or two missing from the flock. At the time I blamed sheep thieves. 2. As with all large flocks some sheep get sick. Sometimes a sick ewe in the morning would be dead by dusk when I made the next round of the sheep. If due to the lateness of the hour I decided to pick up the body in the morning. ( At that time we had a mixed farm and at Hay-making and harvestime we were very busy in daylight hours) By the next morning there would often just be the scull, spine and leg bones connected, all devoid of flesh. A man who had been a game ranger in Africa said that it was only large cats that did this licking the flesh from the bones with their rough tongues. I discounted this but had no other explanation. About 12 miles away at Ullenhall there was famous encounter with a large black cat in a wood when a woman accidentally cornered one on a path. It seems that the cat jumped over her using the ladies lower back for leverage. The scars of the claws have often been shown on TV.
The next was Northants when 4 of us were driving close to Nether Heyford in that county. My wife spotted this one walking across the row of straw left by the combine. These rows gave us a good size gauge as we were right next to the same field and there is no hedge or fence against the road in that field. It was slightly larger than an average German Shepherd but a bit more thick set, black with a typical cat like body movement and tail carriage. This one was so large that I would not want to leave the car for a closer look.
I have recently read serious articles from people who have studied this phenomenon of Alien Big Cats (ABCs). One theory is that these are not really "aliens" but are a part of the British native Fauna. Cats were brought in by The Romans all of the time for sporting purposes. It is unlikely that none would escape. Those that did thrived and bred. Over the millennia these have developed into their own native British species of cat known to people who live and work in the countryside but not recognised by serious science.
As the countryside becomes more denuded of it`s vegetative covering and people gain more access to the wilder places it is inevitable that people and cats encounter one another more frequently.