Big Cats in Britain?

[Tobi]

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.

[Catherine]

There have been rumors of a big cat for years. I have heard that people have seen something. Some of the video is very clear.

What you saw matches what they show in the video so You were lucky you didn't get hurt.

I wonder what it is. It seems clear that there is something out there. Is it an escaped big cat or is it a hold over from a more ancient time.
Some of the proof is very definite. I hope one day they get a real close-up picture.
Are they still searching for it?

[Tobi]

I never felt I would get hurt, although I did sense this was no creature I had ever seen before in my area. I am used to the wild animals who live around here, and this was different. I sensed it was too wary and too skittish to want to come anywhere near us. But it would almost certainly have been dangerous if it had been cornered.
There is plenty of natural prey for an animal like that, so it wouldn't have been interested in hunting us, except as defense probably.
Unfortunately because it moved so fast and it was almost dark, I cannot be 100% certain what I saw that evening. I know it wasn't a dog.
Luckily, Misty never caught its scent because I backed her out of there quickly, and it was ahead of us, and she didn't see it either (too interested in sniffing something on the ground at the time)

I don't know if anyone is searching for these wild cats exactly. There's a bit of doubt about whether they are there or not. I suppose some people might be obsessed about it. But I have heard no more news reports about so-called 'big cat sightings' for ages now.

[Catherine]

We had reports of cougar sightings on Ontario for years even though they were known to be extinct around her. I understand that they have proof now that there are cougars. There are still very few sightings.

That is the thing about big cats. They are elusive. They do not want to be seen. They also tend to come out at night. So they are only seen in the dark of night by people who are alone in remote areas. No wonder we are never sure if they are there.

I think there must be some big cat in England. Who knows if they will ever track it down.
You were no threat so it didn't bother you. You know you saw something, but you may never know what.

[Janay]

Cryptozoology - one of my strongest passions throughout my teenage years, and still something I find very interesting now.

What you saw sounds very interesting Tobi - judging by the way you described it, if there are indeed big cats in Britain, I would definitely say that is probably what that was. If it was a type of big cat, I agree that it probably wouldn't have even considered going near a human unless if felt threatened, so you were right to keep Misty away - just incase it felt scared and tried to defend itself.

My mum had a sighting, about 18 years ago now, in our back garden where we used to live (greater London).
It was around 1997. I was only about 7 years old at the time, but I remember my mum telling us about it very well, and she still mentions it and recites it to this day.
I think it was August, and it was a nice warm night. it wasn't too late, but it was completely dark outside so it must have been about 10pm. My mum had put me and my sister to bed, and she went out into the garden to water the grass .... my mum always used to prefer watering the garden after dark in the summer, I think she used to find it therapeutic and relaxing doing it at night. We didn't have a big garden, it was about 30ft long, so wherever she was standing at the time, she never felt as though she was too far away from the house.
She said that one night, she heard a noise, like something crashing up against one of our garden fences. She looked up, and saw something that appeared to be pure black in colour, standing on fence. It was about the same size as our dog we had back then (our dog was the same size as a border collie), but it started to walk along the fence - like a cat. After a few moments, it lept down into one of our neighbours garden's.
My mum got a bit spooked by the whole thing. She made sure that our dog Sherry was still inside the house, and she asked my dad to come outside and stand with her while she finished watering the grass. She did turn the garden light on to finish that night. She made my dad stand outside with her while she watered the grass every night for about 3 weeks after that night.

What she saw had the ability to leap up onto a 6ft high fence, and walk across the fence elegantly as a feline would, and appeared to be pure black - but it was big, the size of a border collie dog.
What my mum saw really confused her - because back then in the 90's, she hadn't even heard the theories that their might be big cats wild in Britain, she had never heard of anyone else in the UK seeing anything like that.

There is of course the possibility that what my mum saw was a large fox, which simply appeared to look black because it was so dark outside. But I have suggested this to her, and though she says it may be possible, she doesn't think it's likely that it was a fox, as it seemed too big to be a fox, and the shape of it's body and the way it moved just seemed too cat-like to her.

Catherine Wrote:I wonder what it is. It seems clear that there is something out there. Is it an escaped big cat or is it a hold over from a more ancient time.

There are several different theories about how big cats could have ended up here. The most popular theory - is that the big cats sighted here in the UK are offspring of animals which were illegally set free into the wild in the 1970's. Up until the mid 70's - people in the UK could legally keep big cats as pets and were not required to meet any particular standards as to how they were kept/taken care of.
In 1976, the "dangerous wild animals act" was made. This meant that if a person wanted to own a big cat in the UK, they would have to meet certain criteria to provide a suitable home for the cat, and the owner would have to follow certain guidelines to provide adequate care for their pet. Many people could not meet the new legal standards required to legally keep their big cats. As a result, many big cat owners gave their pets away to zoos, or sadly, had them put them down. Those who were not able to find their pet new homes or who could not bring themselves to have their animals put down, released them into the wild illegally.

I'm definitely open-minded about the idea of big cats surviving in the UK, it's something that I have always found very interesting. Thanks for the link Tobi - I will definitely have to take a look at that documentary sometime.


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[Catherine]

How old is the big cat rumor? Does it start around the time people were releasing big cats? I wonder if it was a black Jaguar. I think panthers are too big and they are more aggressive. It could be a hybrid of two released cats.
Too many people have had sightings for it to be nothing. I hope they fine out. I love a mystery.