Big cat may prowl Gloucestershire wood, says National Trust

[Coventry Lee]

Touching on this subject, it's little wonder people get overexcited about the possibility of big cats prowling about our countryside with reporting like this, below:

Was deer death on Burbage Common down to hunters or a big cat on the prowl? - Hinckley Times

A couple of weeks back a Muntjac's decapitated head was found in local woodland. Their presence is no secret, although I haven't been lucky enough to catch sight of one myself. The head (which can be seen below for those who wish to have a look) was left wedged in a tree. Now when I first heard about it I assumed somebody had shot it and removed the head. Indeed the local council, quoted in the above article, seem to concur. But the main headlines in the local paper have been around satanic ritual and big cats. Awful reporting.

The head is here - not particularly pleasant viewing:

The "Rich Gift Of Lins": Burbage Woods And The Medieval Deer Parks Of Leicestershire

[fairplay]

The first thing that comes to my mind is somebody wanted the skull and must have stumbled across the deer by chance.
A mess was made of removing the head, so obviously not done by a hunting person.

When I used to walk a dog years ago I would often come across a dead Harbour Porpoise washed up on the beach. They would be eaten by foxes and Gulls over the period of several weeks, but the skull would be damaged as well, so the next time I came across a porpoise, I cut the head off, went up the cliff to a small spinny and jammed the head in a fork so that the maggots could clean the skull without damaging it.
It was then added to my collection of skulls which I hoped to use during the local Wildlife Trusts Xmas quiz.
I notice in the link, a comment about foxes being strung up, this is nothing more sinister than a gamekeepers gibbet, where the gamekeeper would string up the 'vermin' on a certain tree (or fence if it were Jays, stoats, etc) just so the Estate owner, whilst walking, can see that the gamekeeper has been doing his job. The 'joke' was that the pheasants can get their revenge on the foxes by eating the maggots which fall out of the decaying carcass.

Neil.

[bigcatman]

As we now know that the Sun has been pushing this story for many weeks now and has been making the ego of two men very big, those being the self-proclaimed “expert big cat tracker” Frank who admits that he has never traped, caught, tracked or passed onto the authorities of any such big cat. Also that of Minter who’s book on big cats came out within days of the first sightings.

The map on the Sun’s article shows a huge paw print covering most of the county of Gloucestershire. The superimposed image does not show any clear truth in what Frank is saying and furthermore, the cut out is no bigger than some large domestic moggies.

The video camera was supplied to the lady by Frank, the image does not show any such cat, only a dog. The fox at the top of the video is not even remotely frightened, again, if it were a big cat, then why is there a fox and why is the fox and even birds not flying away in fear?

If it were six foot long and two foot high, then that must make it a record breaking cat! So Frank forgot to say that includes the tail measurement. However, even at two foot high, that does not make it a big cat. There are some people who say that we have “black panther” roaming free in the UK, this is wrong and untrue. Why? – Because there is and are no such animals as “black panthers”. Yes we have panthers and it is a generic name given to some species of cats such as puma/cougar, even some species of exotic cats have in part the Latin “Panthera”. The term black panther is a unknown name a pseudo name which appears because of myth and misunderstanding. There are black or melinistic leopards but they are not all black or even true black, we also have black jaguar. Also the term “big cat” is also misued and not correct. Only those cats which do not purr and lack the hyoid bone are classed as big cats. If it roars its a big cat, if it purrs it’s not. However, some species can indeed semi-roar as well as purr. So as some poster are correct by saying that only four of the big cats can indeed be classed as such.

Many people use the Dangerous Animals Act 1976, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Zoo Licence Act 1981 to substantiate their belief of such “big cats and that these cats breed and have been breeding or making hybrids. It is true that in the UK there has been many cases where small exotic cats have escaped or been found, some have indeed cross-bred. It is true that a couple of lynx have also been found. But this does not prove or mean that “big cats” are free and roaming free in the UK wilds, let alone breeding.

Is it not strange how the sightings always take on the guise of “black, panther, big cat, bigger than my or his dog, cubs were seen, it roared, it was night time, fuzzy or out of focus pictures, poor video, policemen seeing them, etc. When someone reports that they saw something, it has a domino effect, others then say they also saw and then it gathers pace and more say they too have seen this mythical creature, or even they were attacked or their dog or pet was attacked. This is what is called a “scotopic event”. The eyes see something, not sure of what it is, the brain trys to make sense of it. The brain comes up with what is believed to be correct however, in fact it’s not. If you have 10, 20, 100 or 1 million people all saying that they saw something, then by rule of logic alone, each person should see something slighly different. The same applies to that of when people see the rainbow, each person will see a different colour and will see where it starts or ends at a different place. Light, angles, atmosphere and so on makes the image seem different to each person. No one person see the exact same as the next person.

Remember, Cryptozoology is a non-science, it’s not a real or true science. Anyone can call themselves a cryptozoologist and the word means:
Oxford
cryptozoology
• noun the search for animals whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated.

There “may be” a big cat which “may be” or “may have” escaped from a collection or from a private owner. However, that does not mean that there are such felids out there, nor does that 2000 plus sightings mean that these cats exist or are there or anywhere. By applying common sense and the rule of Occam’s Razor which says : “from among competing hypotheses, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions usually provides the correct one, and that the simplest explanation will be the most plausible until evidence is presented to prove it false.”

In the case of the Stroud sightings and the Sun’s coverage, also that Frank Tunbridge is no “expert”. The simplist reasons applies…it was a dog!

[John_M]

Yes, we know.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by bigcatman

As we now know that the Sun has been pushing this story for many weeks now and has been making the ego of two men very big, those being the self-proclaimed “expert big cat tracker” Frank who admits that he has never traped, caught, tracked or passed onto the authorities of any such big cat. Also that of Minter who’s book on big cats came out within days of the first sightings.

<snip>

In the case of the Stroud sightings and the Sun’s coverage, also that Frank Tunbridge is no “expert”. The simplist reasons applies…it was a dog!

Spoilsport - looks like you're going to be too sensible and no fun at all!

I've seen "Jungle Book", so I know there are 'black panthers'!

I think there ought to be two new terms recognised by cryptozoologists : 'Biggish Cats' and 'Black-Dogs-That-Might-Be-Mistaken-For-Big-Cats-By-The-Gullible-From-A-Long-Way-Away'!

Jim

BTW: Welcome to WAB 'bigcatman'.

[fairplay]

I'm sure I have a video somewhere of a Pink Panther.

Neil.

[artdemole]

Dog Or Wolves !!!!!!

[Brocakat]

I'm waiting for that Kevin Costner Film to come out, - " Dances with Panthers "