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Big Cat sightings

Around 2008 I saw a black cat while walking my springer walking along a hedgerow 25yds in front of me in a field of barley. All I saw was the top of the back and it’s long tail with the big cat curl on the end, it’s coat was black and shiny. I didn’t see it’s head, I only saw it for a few seconds before it was gone, but I know what I had seen, I frantically called the dog and put him on the lead.
I did walk over to where I’d seen it and measured the crop to the top of my knee where it’s back was as it slinked pass! I thought it was over 4’ long what I had seen from its shoulder to the curl on the end of its tail. A few days later there were sighting reports on the other side of town!
My sister claims she’s seen a big cat 3x over a couple of years driving to work at 6am down the lanes to the lower lode inn at Tewkesbury, she was mostly sober at that time of morning 😀
Over the years there has been numerous reports in Gloucestershire, there is a tv documentary called ‘Britains big cats’ that is worth a watch for all you doubters out there.
 
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Graham Tremble said:
One afternoon whilst on exploring mode ( not fishing but looking for ‘likely’ areas ) on the Warwickshire Avon I ventured into a series of overgrown meadows with no sheep/ cattle roaming in. Rounding a large expanse of brambles I virtually tripped over a large dog ( I guess ) otter which scampered away immediately. My point here is that, on land , it was twice the size they appear in the water.
Like my Barbel size estimates I may have exaggerated a little when I got home and told the missus it ‘was the size of a Alsatian’ ,and no, she didn’t believe me either.😉
My point being that at a distance I wonder if this could account for some sightings?
G.T.
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I once saw a huge dog otter in Caersws that shocked me. I think the males can be a lot bigger than the females.
 
I've always been intrigued by this. There are certainly numerous sightings by genuine witnesses. I think they're out there. There is film footage of a black big cat (possibly a leopard) at Kinver in the west midlands. I think you can see it on youtube. Unfortunately photos and film footage is always at a distance. Although definite feline characteristics are evident such as a long tails etc.

However, I would have thought more evidence would be apparent. Remains of the kill. Sheep/deer would be the obvious occasional prey resource. Bodies of the aged dead feline, as they've been reported for some years now.
 
Some years ago, about 2002, I was coming home on the train and about 10 minutes before we got to Bicester I saw a black panther in a field about 20 yards from the track. It was day time and I'm 100% certain I know what I saw. Never said anything to anyone because I didnt think anyone would believe me.
 
Mike Hutchinson said:
Some years ago, about 2002, I was coming home on the train and about 10 minutes before we got to Bicester I saw a black panther in a field about 20 yards from the track. It was day time and I'm 100% certain I know what I saw. Never said anything to anyone because I didnt think anyone would believe me.
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There were lots of sightings of black felines, all over England, around about that time. There even sightings near where I live.
 
Not sure if Iv mentioned this on here before or not but one of my mates used to work with me in the week then go to his dads in Derby on the weekend to help him out on his farm. He knew I was into this kind of stuff and remember him coming back one week and saying you’re going to love this, he’d found out that one of his dads mates who was a pig farmer had found the carcasses of 2 pigs up trees on his land. Can’t think of any native animals that would drag a pig up a tree
 
Jon Young said:
Not sure if Iv mentioned this on here before or not but one of my mates used to work with me in the week then go to his dads in Derby on the weekend to help him out on his farm. He knew I was into this kind of stuff and remember him coming back one week and saying you’re going to love this, he’d found out that one of his dads mates who was a pig farmer had found the carcasses of 2 pigs up trees on his land. Can’t think of any native animals that would drag a pig up a tree
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My ex missus so she didn't have to share it.
 
Never seen one myself, but absolutely there are big cats roaming the wilds - and not so wilds - of the UK. Add together known escapes from zoos, circuses and early wildlife parks, the fascination with "owning" big wild cats the land and gentry had in the first half of the 20th century, plus the ongoing illegal importing of exotic animals that continued happening right into the late 90s/early 00s, and the fact they would basically be an apex predator here with very little competition, I think it would be far more surprising and unlikely if there WASN'T a population of a few different types of big cats that have established themselves in the last 150 years.

There's been enough verifiable photos with identifiable markers for calculating size and proportions in more recent years that have me convinced, HOWEVER it is worth noting that some - not all, but some - sightings can almost certainly be attributed to domestic maine coon cats, which are increasingly popular as pets over here. For those that don't know about maine coons, they typically grow to the size of a medium dog, some with a particular genetic mutation go bigger still. They also often have that big panther like face which, as far as I know, no other large domestic breed (like the savannah) has.

Would love a maine coon.
 
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Gatos Maine Coon.jpg

maine coon, now imagine if that was black.
 
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There's been enough sightings in my local area (east and north yorks/north lincs) from Farmers, hunters and security guards working along the Humber that I would be more surprised if they didn't exist.

A few years ago I did look into how far back sightings go and it seemed to start post ww2. Some suggestions that alot of the USAF bases at that time had mascots from back home, bobcats in particular.
 
There's a really interesting podcast called Big Cat Conversations on Spotify, definitely worth a listen...

I'm part of a team of researchers for Cambs/Beds/Northants... Some of the reports we get coming in are very credible and a stark eye opener to how many of these cats are about.

It's an interesting subject in that there's so many photos, videos, trail cam images, prints, scat, DNA evidence and accounts of former owners releasing them, yet for some reason lots of people refuse to believe that they exist. Yes it's not helped by the gutter press headlines and very common reports that are mistaken identity, but they're definitely in small pockets around the UK.
 
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