big cat just maybe

[landkeeper]

my brother lives in perthshire and saw a very large black cat one day, it was walking down a fence line with posts 6ft apart the cat was longer nose to tip of tail than the gap between the posts , he dosn't shoot but does a lot of hill walking and nature watching and i would count him as a reliable type so i err to they are out there side of the discussion

 

[User00003]

my brother lives in perthshire and saw a very large black cat one day, it was walking down a fence line with posts 6ft apart the cat was longer nose to tip of tail than the gap between the posts , he dosn't shoot but does a lot of hill walking and nature watching and i would count him as a reliable type so i err to they are out there side of the discussion

did it go "moooooooo"? LOL..only joking of course. I'd love to see that

 

[Morgy]

But the authorities deny that they exist, so why protect something that isn't here! How do you capture something that may have a territory of many square hundred miles with no fixed pattern of movement and knows you are there before you do!?

They capture wild animals in other countries dont they?, and I was responding to comments made by other people in relation to "Protecting them".

It was tongue in cheek asking about a variation from your FLO.

 

[Dama]

I have seen and photographed cougar and leopard kills in the States and Africa and in every case the kills have been taken into cover (cougars) or treed (leopards). I am no expert but if a big cat is smart enough never to be spotted it is certainly not dumb enough to eat that roe in the middle of that open field. Both of the species (and lynx) hunt by stealth so if they were to kill a roe it would be close to cover - these aren't cheetahs - and certainly not then dragged into the open. More SKY hype.......

 

[HME]

I live about a mile away from where this is supposed to have happened. There is also another report of "an Alsatian sized white cat" in the same area. Personally I have never seen one and until one is captured or shot I am unlikely to believe or even care whether they exist. To date there is little credible evidence of their existence. There is a lot of strong cider consumed in these valleys!

 

[Cougar]

They capture wild animals in other countries dont they?.

Yes but thats in country's with high populations, here it will be very difficult as there may only be a couple of hundred across the whole of the UK.

 

[Nightwalker]

Most likely either the deer was either hit by a vehicle or shot and lost or was a killed by a lurcher after a long run and not recovered by the dog's owners. Stroud has got badgers the way a hedgehog has fleas and there's no shortage of foxes there either and anything laying about dead gets scoffed in very short order.

About four years ago I got a call out late afternoon to help deal with injured munty (thought to have been hit too low and too far back), I took a lurcher, a terrier and a shotgun. The terrier concerned was locally famous for her nose and fantastic ability to find game - I pushed through a cover strip while the keeper waited in the open with his rifle. The deer was much more lively than expected and when the dogs pushed it out of cover, the keeper missed it - twice and it got into a very, very big wood a couple of hundred yards further on with the terrier in close pursuit and the lurcher who had been checked by a thick hedge not far behind. We could hear the terrier baying as she hunted it deeper into the wood but couldn't keep up with the dogs. The light went and I got the dogs back after about 45 minutes of calling and walking, both dogs were covered in blood and deer fur and had obviously killed the munty. I saw the direction they had come from and we were close to the end of the wood by then but we couldn't find the carcase with the lamp. I found the remains first thing next morning on top of a badger set and stripped pretty much in the fashion of that roe. Those badgers must have thought Christmas had come early when the dogs left a dead deer on top of their set. Big cat enthusiasts see the work of pumas and panthers when almost anything dies in the countryside but the answer is usually much more prosaic.

 

[devonfoxer]

ive seen 2 in the south west my stalking mate told me he had seen a big black cat near wellinton monument some time ago and last year they where shooting round that area when 2 guys drove into a field and one ran right across in front of them also the farm wheer im shooting mosst of my foxes at the moment the son was out he say a big black cat which ran straight acroos the road into a 200 acre wood are they about definailty yes the one we saw before we had the archer wa in the dry summer right down by a river at about midnight we lamped it it ran up across a field like nothing i have ever seen before we havent seen it since the other we saw in the archer looked like a massive tabby cat id say lynx like stu

 

[MARKSP]

What would the rules be around shooting these big cats? would they be classed as vermin, similar to the fox? i think these big cats if they were to breed and become common could be bad for countryside, especially the pheasants shooting, the fox does enough damage on my shoot as it is without big cats!

 

[devilishdave]

I would sugest large cats in the UK wouldn't waste their time trying to catch deer when there are sheep about!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cougar]

I would sugest large cats in the UK wouldn't waste their time trying to catch deer when there are sheep about!!!!!!!!!

But not everywhere has sheep! With the high rabbit population and now growing hare numbers (here at least) they don't have to live on just deer.

 

[Gomez]

There have been plenty of sightings up here in Cumbria. Most seem to have been in the south of the county. I know of several people that have seen 'something' whilst out lamping. One person took a photo of a print that measured nearly 7in long and wide, this was found in a muddy gateway with stock in the field, but no kills or missing animals.

 

[michie65.55]

Depending on the wording of your FAC and your reasons for shooting one, would depend on the outcome.

TJ

wording i think you would require would be for the protection of humans / animals ,

 

[trouble]

nothing will come of it because there arent any big cats here

 

[Steyer 6.5]

Well it made half a page in the Daily Star today. (before you slate me I was having me haircut and it was in the barbers)

 

[jubnut]

Out with he dog this morning and I saw a big cat! It was on a lead being taken for a walk by the abominable snowman.

 

[Cougar]

nothing will come of it because there arent any big cats here

I must be a liar then Sir just because you haven't seen anything?

 

[flytie]

Sometimes it's like groundhog day on here

Simon

 

[Steyer 6.5]

Flytie back in 88 I was keepering by you and out lamping near drakes broughton saw a dark cat shape long tail 200 yards away spotted it with lamp and it walked into cover at the height of the shoulder it was level with sheep netting. It made me shiver down the spine. I was sure it was a big cat it wasnt the shadow off the lamp either. I had **** ripped out of me n told I was wrong. I'm still adamant that's what I saw.

 

[paul k]

All I'd say is that in response to a Freedom of Information question the Forestry Commission confirmed that they had seen what they believed were two big cats in the Forest of Dean whilst conducting deer counts by infra-red. This means that the FC believe that this is what their men saw. For me too many intelligent people, including a close friend of mine, have had definite sightings to dismiss the possibility. My friend saw what he was convinced was a cougar whilst stalking with me on the edge of Exmoor, the most interesting point was that when this was mentioned to the farmer he was quite matter of fact and said that they saw it once or twice a year.

I am however intrigued by a couple of things:

1. The sightings most frequently describe the cats as "black cougar" and these are almost completely unknown in the wild whereas black leopards (commonly called panthers) are more common that normal coloured leopards in some parts of the World (parts of SE Asia) and were kept as pets prior to the Dangerous Animals Act. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that some of these were released as a consequence of the act and would have easily been able to survive in the UK given the amount of deer and livestock in most areas. To be a black cougar there would probably have to be a hybridisation between a cougar and a panther and I don't know whether this is biologically possible or not. Many big cats can interbreed but again are the offspring fertile? It should also be remembered that even where these animals exist naturally and are relatively common it is still sometimes very hard to catch a sight of one and even experts can go many days or weeks without seeing one.

This brings me on to my second point:

If, as is generally assumed, the cats originated from pets released as a consequence of the Dangerous Animals Act, they would have to have been successful in breeding for a number of generations and this obviously requires a male and female of the same species to meet up. These animals have huge territories and it is well known that males roam extensively to find a mate and again it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that this could happen but is more likely to have been cougar than leopard/panther as it seems that more cougars were released. If a cougar and leopard can produce viable offspring then a "black cougar" has a clear explanation and also once a litter had been produced then the chances of further breeding in that area, albeit inter-breeding, are substantially increased.

There is fairly strong evidence that cougar, black panther, and lynx were released in the 1970s (and one or two other smaller species) but what is not known is their capacity to reproduce and still be there today. I have not seen one myself but I am not prepared to call those that are convinced that they have liars or idiots as there is no reason why they should not be out there.