There very well might be large cats roaming Britain. This documentary is very interesting:
http://youtu.be/YJm-rGsBhPw
I think I might have once seen one myself....
About November 2007 I was in a remote woods with Misty. I was gathering logs, had just finished putting them in the car, and it was getting dark. I decided to just take Misty for a short walk along one of the tracks in the woods before going home.
The woods had tracks dividing it. Some went north-south (ish) and some intersected west-east.
Then suddenly, ahead of us, running along one of the intersecting tracks about 100ft or so away, was a large dark shape, which ran low to the ground with a slinking movement. It moved very fast, and as it was almost dark, I was unsure what animal it was. All I am certain of is that it was not a deer. It moved very differently. I also concluded it wasn't a large dog, as it didn't move like a dog either.
There were no people about. I stopped Misty, and we re-traced our steps, and got out pretty quickly. I thought if it was a big cat, it would probably try hard to avoid us, but also thought that if Misty gave chase and cornered it, it would make mincemeat of her.
The ground was soft, so a few days later in daylight I decided to go to look for footprints. Unfortunately the earth was covered thickly with fallen leaves, and I made out no footprints at all. I also looked for other signs, such as deep scratches on trees, higher than a badger's reach....scat...and any hairs caught on barbed wire at the edges of the woods, but found no traces.
I did however, get the scent of male cat (tomcat) in that woods many times. It was a very strong smell indeed. Okay that could have come from a domestic cat....but what I saw was much too large to be any domestic cat!
We didn't collect wood there for a week or more. I realised that when sawing logs I couldn't keep a good watch at the same time and was a bit scared for Misty. Not for myself, as I felt whatever it was wouldn't harm me.
Eventually we resumed normal wood-cutting! I never saw anything like that again.
http://youtu.be/YJm-rGsBhPw
I think I might have once seen one myself....
About November 2007 I was in a remote woods with Misty. I was gathering logs, had just finished putting them in the car, and it was getting dark. I decided to just take Misty for a short walk along one of the tracks in the woods before going home.
The woods had tracks dividing it. Some went north-south (ish) and some intersected west-east.
Then suddenly, ahead of us, running along one of the intersecting tracks about 100ft or so away, was a large dark shape, which ran low to the ground with a slinking movement. It moved very fast, and as it was almost dark, I was unsure what animal it was. All I am certain of is that it was not a deer. It moved very differently. I also concluded it wasn't a large dog, as it didn't move like a dog either.
There were no people about. I stopped Misty, and we re-traced our steps, and got out pretty quickly. I thought if it was a big cat, it would probably try hard to avoid us, but also thought that if Misty gave chase and cornered it, it would make mincemeat of her.
The ground was soft, so a few days later in daylight I decided to go to look for footprints. Unfortunately the earth was covered thickly with fallen leaves, and I made out no footprints at all. I also looked for other signs, such as deep scratches on trees, higher than a badger's reach....scat...and any hairs caught on barbed wire at the edges of the woods, but found no traces.
I did however, get the scent of male cat (tomcat) in that woods many times. It was a very strong smell indeed. Okay that could have come from a domestic cat....but what I saw was much too large to be any domestic cat!
We didn't collect wood there for a week or more. I realised that when sawing logs I couldn't keep a good watch at the same time and was a bit scared for Misty. Not for myself, as I felt whatever it was wouldn't harm me.
Eventually we resumed normal wood-cutting! I never saw anything like that again.
