• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Big Cat sightings

Iv seen a couple of videos where it would be hard to argue against it being a big cat. Not sure if it’s this thread or the other one where someone mentioned kinver and I remember watching the documentary with that clip on and soon as it started I said that’s kinver before they said it was. From where it was filmed to where the cat was you could tell it was big. Couple of years back my mate was driving down the rabbit run heading back towards Stourbridge and sent a voice message to the group chat that he’d just seen a big cat. You could tell by his voice he wasn’t messing around. Obviously he could have been mistaken but he was convinced.
The best clip I recon Iv seen was on YouTube I think years ago where a huge black cat jumps onto a stone wall on a farm. Again from the distance away it was being filmed from it must have been big.
Personally Iv never seen one but remember one time I was fishing on my own a good walk from the car. There was a guy fishing a couple of pegs down who left just as the light was fading. Everything went quiet and I was sitting there happy and relaxed expecting a few bites as it normally went mad that sort of time on this stretch when I started hearing a strange noise from somewhere in the undergrowth. The only way I could really describe it would be a lion breathing. That kind of really deep purring noise. Obviously I didn’t think it would be a lion but big cat was all that was going through my head. It freaked me out that much I hurriedly packed up and marched back to a peg close to car whilst constantly looking back over my shoulder to make sure that nothing was following me. No idea what it was. Never heard anything like it before or since.
 
I'm not convinced. If there were they would be easy enough to track down. They would be escapees and would likely be semi tame ( certainly not accustomed to hunting for their food) and not able to survive inconspicuously I don't reckon.
 
I’m not that convinced either but even if they were escapees that weren’t used to hunting their own food it would still come as second nature to them. There is enough food out there for them to never need to come into contact with any humans. Stealth in ingrained into their dna so you could probably walk within metres of one that was hidden and never know.
One of the big things for me would be whether or not they could survive the cold in winter. I know tigers and snow leopards and that would be alright but it’s generally black cats presumably leopards/panthers/jaguars which are more jungle cats as far as I’m aware
 
Dan Whitelock said:
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.
Click to expand...
DNA and trail-cam evidence Dan? That would be pretty significant.
 
I had a parameter from about 25-years ago who’s uncle was into exotica and kept an array of Burmese pythons, lizards and birds.

We were around his one day and he was going through his photo albums of animals and came across a pictures of him sat with a bit cat through varying stages of age.

It was at the same house he lived at now as I recognised the garden straight away. I asked him what happened to it and his reply was a simple “it got too big for me so I let it go one night on the moors”.

I had no reason to disbelieve him but it does beg the question when these things die why are more bodies / remains not found ?!?
 
Mike Webb said:
I'm not convinced. If there were they would be easy enough to track down. They would be escapees and would likely be semi tame ( certainly not accustomed to hunting for their food) and not able to survive inconspicuously I don't reckon.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert on the similarities between big cats and domestic cats but domestic cats are natural hunters irrespective of their pampered lives.
 
Gavin Burt said:
I had a parameter from about 25-years ago who’s uncle was into exotica and kept an array of Burmese pythons, lizards and birds.

We were around his one day and he was going through his photo albums of animals and came across a pictures of him sat with a bit cat through varying stages of age.

It was at the same house he lived at now as I recognised the garden straight away. I asked him what happened to it and his reply was a simple “it got too big for me so I let it go one night on the moors”.

I had no reason to disbelieve him but it does beg the question when these things die why are more bodies / remains not found ?!?
Click to expand...
At least he gave an honest answer. Although a highly irresponsible action in many respects. Certainly explains why there were so many sightings at about that time. I'm just surprised, that there hasn't been a reported negative interaction with a human being.
 
Ady Brayshaw said:
At least he gave an honest answer. Although a highly irresponsible action in many respects. Certainly explains why there were so many sightings at about that time. I'm just surprised, that there hasn't been a reported negative interaction with a human being.
Click to expand...
That's an interesting point, but in countries where these animals are native, attacks on humans are rare and usually the result of being unable to catch natural prey. The Jim Corbett books, Man-eaters of Kumaon and the Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag give some idea of how difficult leopards are to track down, especially as opposed to a man eating tiger. The accounts of how he hunted, and was himself hunted, by theses man-eaters certainly make your hair stand on end and I wouldn't recommend reading them prior to night session out in the wilds of Kinver or similar.
 
Alex Gowney said:
That's an interesting point, but in countries where these animals are native, attacks on humans are rare and usually the result of being unable to catch natural prey. The Jim Corbett books, Man-eaters of Kumaon and the Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag give some idea of how difficult leopards are to track down, especially as opposed to a man eating tiger. The accounts of how he hunted, and was himself hunted, by theses man-eaters certainly make your hair stand on end and I wouldn't recommend reading them prior to night session out in the wilds of Kinver or similar.
Click to expand...
I read one of the Corbett books many years ago. A very interesting read. That's what came to mind, an aged animal, unable to catch the abundant prey that abound in rural England, suddenly becoming a danger.

On a different subject...the identification of these cats that leave tracks. Samples can be taken from tracks (snow , mud etc) that if fresh enough, can be tested for DNA, to identify a species and even individuals within a species.
 
Ady Brayshaw said:
I read one of the Corbett books many years ago. A very interesting read. That's what came to mind, an aged animal, unable to catch the abundant prey that abound in rural England, suddenly becoming a danger.

On a different subject...the identification of these cats that leave tracks. Samples can be taken from tracks (snow , mud etc) that if fresh enough, can be tested for DNA, to identify a species and even individuals within a species.
Click to expand...
Yes, I often wonder at the lack of evidence of pug marks. We live in a wet country where the ground would provide plentiful opportunity to track these animals for an experienced tracker. A lack of evidence in the form of kills is also often cited as evidence against the existence of big cats roaming the countryside. But again, going from what I've read in Jim Corbett's books, it's not unusual for a leopard to eat absolutely everything. Against that is the number of animals sheep size for instance, that a leopard would need to kill to survive; it would be a considerable number over the course of a year and some evidence should surely be found at some point.

But a lot of people do know what they have seen and I know of the skin of a big cat, tawny colour, that was allegedly shot at Long Compton, near Chipping Norton, a few years ago. So many pros and cons to their existence, but I feel enough evidence exists to suggest some certainly do exist in the wild in the UK. However, those who think otherwise can present a pretty strong case too.
 
Alex Gowney said:
Yes, I often wonder at the lack of evidence of pug marks. We live in a wet country where the ground would provide plentiful opportunity to track these animals for an experienced tracker. A lack of evidence in the form of kills is also often cited as evidence against the existence of big cats roaming the countryside. But again, going from what I've read in Jim Corbett's books, it's not unusual for a leopard to eat absolutely everything. Against that is the number of animals sheep size for instance, that a leopard would need to kill to survive; it would be a considerable number over the course of a year and some evidence should surely be found at some point.

But a lot of people do know what they have seen and I know of the skin of a big cat, tawny colour, that was allegedly shot at Long Compton, near Chipping Norton, a few years ago. So many pros and cons to their existence, but I feel enough evidence exists to suggest some certainly do exist in the wild in the UK. However, those who think otherwise can present a pretty strong case too.
Click to expand...
There are so many credible witness accounts of their existence all over the UK. The Chipping Norton example being
conclusive if witnessed. One I read yesterday, was from an ex Grampian force police officer. In the 80's he was observing a big black leopard in his locality, through a telescopic gun sight for some time. His senior officers didn't want to know.

The food source is abundant. Deer numbers in some areas are being culled (in the 100's per annum). In my locality, it's easy to find deer, if you know where to look...and that's just about everywhere. It seems likely to me (not an expert), that there are a small number of individual cats, wandering around the countryside, that are spotted on numerous occasions, giving the impression of a larger population than in reality.
 
Last edited:
Ady Brayshaw said:
There are so many credible witness accounts of their existence all over the UK. The Chipping Norton example being
conclusive if witnessed. One I read yesterday, was from an ex Grampian force police officer. In the 80's he was observing a big black leopard in his locality, through a telescopic gun sight for some time. His senior officers didn't want to know.

The food source is abundant. Deer numbers in some areas are being culled (in the 100's per annum). In my locality, it's easy to find deer, if you know where to look...and that's just about everywhere. It seems likely to me (not an expert), that there are a small number of individual cats, wandering around the countryside, that are spotted on numerous occasions, giving the impression of a larger population than in reality.
Click to expand...
Herd of 100+ in my part of South Cambs
 
So before I start, I never actually saw anything of a Feline nature ! Just what you might say is circumstantial evidence !

So this was on St Patricks stream, I can't remember the exact year, but it was long before the dedicated car park, when we used to park along the field fence along Loddon drive, and the now turf field was used for grazing sheep, so my best guess is late 90's very early 2000's.

I was returning back to my car at midnight after a session on lower Pats, I was packing my gear back into my car, the sheep in the field, I guess about 50 or 60 of them, were to my left close to the fence that leads to the Thames which we walk along now that takes you the gate at peg 13.
As I was packing my gear, I became aware ( I couldn't miss them ) of the whole flock running for all they were worth from left to right in front of me, where they all ended up against the fence adjacent to the double gate that we know use to drive to the Thames copse.
I've measured it on google that's about 300 yds !!! They packed themselves into the corner of the fence where it meets the road, and returns at right angles towards the river next to the path which we now use to drive along, the sheep at the back of the flock were trying to climb over the ones in front of them, and I was wondering what the hell had spooked them so badly !

I turned on my headlights on full beam which lit up a considerable area of the field expecting to probably see a fox or maybe two worrying the sheep, but saw nothing, I spent a few minutes looking, but still saw nothing, but sheep don't panic like that for nothing !
so after several minutes of looking I got in my car and drove off, puzzled but soon forgot about it, just one of those things you see in the urban countryside.

The following day I returned to the Pats for another session, the second of my usual 2 day sessions which are still my usual sessions, Friday nights after work, and then the next day being the Saturday afternoon / evening.
Parking in the same spot, I unloaded my gear, and made my way downstream, reaching the dip adjacent to peg 64, which is now bridged by a walkway intending to go through it to the pegs beyond.
It had been raining in recent days, and you had to be aware of where you were putting your feet, as the slope up and down at the rise, was extremely slippery would see you sitting on your arse in the mud if you weren't careful ! 😁 but the ground wasn't overly soggy, and as I got to the downward side of the slope, I could see in front of me on the flat portion 2 or 3 - maybe 4.... I can't remember exactly ! well defined paw prints, and I remember thinking to myself .... Wow !! that was a bloody big dog that made those prints, and I remember envisaging something like a St Bernard or similar to have made them, but as i was about to walk on still looking at them, i thought ... Just a minute those prints are bloody massive !!!, and i saw on the rise of the slope, deep scours where the animal had skidded down the slope, making indefinable prints, but deep, suggesting considerable weight, as did the perfect prints on the flat.
All this made me stop and scrutinise them, and it was then i realised that there were no claw prints, the prints on the flat surface were so well defined that it would have shown in the prints no problem, Now for most of my life I've had dogs, ( not now, the wife thinks they're too much of a tie ☹️ ) so I know very well the type of prints a dog leaves in mud, always in mud like that well defined claw prints in them.

It was then I started to think ... Cat ! ... and a big one at that !, and that made me scrutinise them even more ! , and then I thought about the event of the night before, and what spooked those sheep into utter panic !
I can tell you now, I didn't have a very peaceful session that night, constantly looking over my shoulder ! 🥵
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top