Big cats (the very big type)

[Two_Sheds]

That's a Eureka moment, Di !

[pipscariad]

Womble, hope you've got somewhere with the links others have given you. Like many, I'm convinced there are some big cats about - my OH saw one a couple of years ago, on the back roads here in Pembrokeshire (maybe the one you saw Allotmentlady?) - there was a rash of stories in the local press a little while ago. I'd love to see one with my own eyes. Good luck

[womble]

pipscariad, I haven't had the chance yet, I'm cooking a curry to take to the outlaws this evening.... and its turned out a little bit hotter than expected! whoops.

I'm a bit blase about it now tbh, before I saw one I was, well maybe there is etc. Now I'm just, everyone else can believe it or not, I don't care. I saw it in bright sunlight, no alcohol in body , next to something I could measure it against.

The place where I saw it before is exactly the same place I found the footprints this morning.

I am surprised at the amount of people on here that have seen one though, maybe that's because we spend alot of time outside.

[shirlthegirl43]

pipscariad, I haven't had the chance yet, I'm cooking a curry to take to the outlaws this evening.... and its turned out a little bit hotter than expected! whoops.

Add some plain yoghurt - takes the heat out nicely

[Two_Sheds]

I just heard that 3 wild dogs have escaped from a Kent zoo ...

[FionaH]

I just heard that 3 wild dogs have escaped from a Kent zoo ...

Now those would worry me!
As for big cats, we have had lots of sightings here. Surrey puma and all that. I saw something very early one morning but couldnt swear it was a cat Looked a lot like one though!

[burnie]

When you've got snow it's good fun tracking,easier than looking for tracks at other times.I've tried to find big cats,in places where they were "commonly spotted",sorry to be a sceptic but I'm far from convinced.In Derbyshire I found the Wallabies and I 've also found Otters where they didn't exist,but no cats.There was a reported siting near my village,but nothing found yet.

[Hilary B]

I am slightly acquainted with the lady on whose smallholding the Bodmin cat is most often seen. I believe her. I am rather more dubious about sightings in more populated areas. If there was more than one where lots of people are, the evidence would be overwhelming, but in relatively wild places, like the moorlands of the South West, some parts of Wales, maybe Lake district, it isn't impossible. One at a time would have to be a single escape/release, and I can't see them living more than about 10 years. To keep going there would have to be a breeding group, and most places some indisputable evidence would appear sooner or later.

[womble]

When you've got snow it's good fun tracking,easier than looking for tracks at other times.I've tried to find big cats,in places where they were "commonly spotted",sorry to be a sceptic but I'm far from convinced.In Derbyshire I found the Wallabies and I 've also found Otters where they didn't exist,but no cats.There was a reported siting near my village,but nothing found yet.

You'd better believe it because they are out there

If there was any doubt about it at all, I would question myself and not 100% believe it. Believe me, I am as a great sceptic on everything as anyone.

Around this area has been quite a lot of reported sightings, I often went for very early morning rides on the push bike in the forest to see if I could see anything, I didn't, when I actually saw it, I was in my own home and it was totally unexpected.

I did reveal to the village very gently to see if anyone believed me, they all did, one old boy came to see me and said a local farmer sees it quite often and not to make a fuss as we don't want word to get out etc, it never hurts anyone etc.

I remember seeing a docu about a hunter they bought over from Canada, (before I saw the cat, I was sceptical) he said that you could live close to where big cats live in Canada and never see one your entire life. He said the case was unproven btw, it was a possibility but he never found definite evidence of big cats in this country.

When I think of the miles and miles of forest near to me, the abundance of game, how difficult it would be to spot a black cat in the shadows if it was still or not wanting to be seen, the fact that their senses are way better than our own, I feel very very lucky indeed to have seen one in bright sunshine in the middle of the day in a clear field, chasing a deer.

I've no doubt the evidence will come out eventually, although some of the videos I have seen tbh, show very well that it is true.
I have also read (after seeing the cat I became obviously interested in them) that there has been controversial cover ups by someone when cat bodies have been found. Now obviously this is into conspiracy theories territory now and I'm not saying I believe it, just that the words are out there.
But if you take it as given that there are big cats out there, its not a great jump to believe that someone, whether it be animal protectors, or our leaders who want to keep the general population in the dark over a potentially dangerous animal living around us, have done something.

I could very easily see a bandwagon being jumped on by half the people in the country that demands a killing or capturing of these animals if definite proof is ever unearthed.

I didn't mean for this to be a lecture on the realness of a big cat free in the countryside, I am merely putting forward my thoughts and feelings.

[magz.mccarthy]

it would be terrible indeed if people went out hunting these wild cats. it would also be terrible though if someone was hurt by one. i suppose we can only hope that people don't get in the way of their hunting! There is ample food out there for them though with all the wild deer. I was driving through Cambridgeshire the other day and stopped just in time to let a whole herd of leaping deer cross the road in front of me! it was amazing, each animalwas just like the leaping warning signs that noone takes any notice of!

[womble]

Add some plain yoghurt - takes the heat out nicely

Thankyou Shirl, I had already tried that and it didn't work , by god that was a hot curry, it absolutely blew our heads off and they all struggled through it and announced it lovely, with streaming eyes and noses

Note to self, when the recipe next time asks for 2 tablespoons of chilli powder, try it with less first...

Janeyo, the one I saw had a very long tail as well, I'm in little doubt that either the ones we saw, are either the same one or the same kind. I have spoke to someone very reliable indeed about sightings in Peterborough on an industrial estate, again the exact same kind of cat. Black, long tail.

Which brings me on to HilaryB's comment about the breeding group, if you take it that the first reported sighting I can find near me, was in 1994 by a farmer who knew what he was seeing, then I would guess there would have to have been some breeding going on somewhere. Who knows?

[bobleponge]

I in no way doubt that you saw what you saw Womble. The mark 1 eyeball is a powerful tool in recognition.
And, as I said before, I'm not saying that wild cats living in the UK is impossible. I do feel though, with the amount of sightings reported around the country, at some stage, there would have been 1 body found by someone without a vested interest in keeping it quiet.
Can you imagine the amount of cash the press would pay for photo's of a big cat wild in the UK?
That said, I hope there are a few, not enough to hurt anyone, but a few, and that they arent found, as then they will be placed in captivity somewhere.

[womble]

I in no way doubt that you saw what you saw Womble. The mark 1 eyeball is a powerful tool in recognition.
And, as I said before, I'm not saying that wild cats living in the UK is impossible. I do feel though, with the amount of sightings reported around the country, at some stage, there would have been 1 body found by someone without a vested interest in keeping it quiet.
Can you imagine the amount of cash the press would pay for photo's of a big cat wild in the UK?
That said, I hope there are a few, not enough to hurt anyone, but a few, and that they arent found, as then they will be placed in captivity somewhere.

Agreed that it would be near impossible to keep it quiet all the time if a body was found. Agreed about the photo or video being sold to the press. The only doubt in my mind is that the type of people that have the most chance to photo and video big cats, ie people who are most in the countryside, maybe wouldn't want the information to get out. I often wonder if somewhere, in someones house there is absolute proof that this is true, they just don't want to let it out.

What I don't know, is how long they would live in the UK and how big an area they would have as their own territory.
If I had that info I could probably make an estimate on how many there might be round here.
I don't doubt that it could happily live in the woods at the back of my house with the amount of game in there. But I presume that if it lived there, the game would move somewhere else, so for that reason I guess it/they move around alot.

I hope they are not found as well tbh.

[Hilary B]

The big question is whether they are hunting 'game' or farm livestock. I can't see a big cat sticking exclusively to fast deer if there are slow sheep about. The 'big cats' thought to be around are not the very biggest, they are what you might call 'small, big cats', puma, maybe leopard, possibly jaguar, rather than the really big lions or tigers. No particular reason for them to harm a human being, unless feeling cornered, or if someone chances on the place where mama has hidden her babies..... Leopards apparently hunt dogs......
Guesstimating territory, a cat will probably get through about one deer-sized animal per week, so it would need a territory big enough for a deer population that can stand that 'take out', maybe a couple of hundred. In woodland if there are much more than 1 per acre, the trees suffer. You might just get 3 territories to a square mile, if there was no serious competition, but at that sort of density, dog walkers or gamekeepers would be forever finding evidence of kills. I would reckon several square miles per cat is more realistic. Near here there is a patch of mainly-woodland, about 10 square miles, including several fields in odd places. That MIGHT provide space enough for ONE of these cats, but because of the fields in the middle, they would be sure to take the occasional sheep, and get found as a result.
That is why I reckon they are only going to be around as a breeding group in the really wild places. There just isn't enough territory elswhere for more than an isolated individual to remain hidden.

[womble]

Well there are sheep around here, I haven't heard of one killed, but that's not to mean it hasn't happened.
Where I saw the cat and the footprints there are sheep about half a mile away, I don't know why it would go for the deer instead. We did have an awful lot of domestic cats go missing one year.
Yes it is a small big cat, a leopard or jaguar as far as I have been able to work out.

I was thinking much much bigger territories, if I look at the sightings round here and estimate the size of the area if we are talking about one cat, its huge, must be 50 to a hundred square miles. I don't have the knowledge to guess if this is too big for a single cat in this country or not.
There are a seriously huge amount of deer around here.

If they are here and hiding, I can't see why they are not breeding in the same places? I suppose we need an expert to tell us the area they are likely to cover.