Andrew Richardson
Senior Member & Supporter
What's bond with the wheel?
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Big Cat sightings
- Thread starter Mike Hodgkiss
- Start date
Graham Elliott
Senior Member & Supporter
I wondered where tiddles had got to!
Neil Smart
Senior Member
Hard to tell ...not calling you out but why is there no definitive clear pictures or carcass of these cats?
Apparently sightings of these big cats are common in Oxfordshire and some believe they are breeding, which if so is a a bit of a stretch because if so we surely have definitive proof.
I get the odd possible escapee is entirely feasible but that they are surviving and breeding?
James Berry
Active Member
Neil I think usually people are caught by surprise and only get phone pictures or videos,I had seconds to pick my phone up zoom and shoot,the reason I did that was I saw something that was not a usual sized cat and not a dog
The theory is that people use to keep exotic animals as pets and when the law changed they let them go in to the wild
so many sightings and videos of panther like cats its hard to dismiss.
The theory is that people use to keep exotic animals as pets and when the law changed they let them go in to the wild
so many sightings and videos of panther like cats its hard to dismiss.
So they are actively breeding, as of 1976 it is illegal to keep a big cat.
Dan Whitelock
Senior Member
There is quite a lot of clear pictures, videos - both daytime and thermal - and carcasses of these cats, very few are widely available to find online,most of the reports that come to our area of research are requested to be kept private, usually by landowners for fear of trophy hunters and visitors on their land.
Cubs have been reported year on year, there is evidence of a growing illegal private trade again too. There is however a list of registered private collections of exotic pets online, which anyone can browse, catalogued by region, and includes not just big cats but everything from venomous snakes, large mammals to random creatures you'd only think to see on an Attenborough show.
I completely understand why people remain sceptical, I've been intrigued and involved with sightings for a few years now, and regardless of whether or not one "believes" they're in the UK, you'd have a hard time proving they're not here, rather than they are.
Neil Smart
Senior Member
I get it that cats are possibly escaping. But that for me doesn't mean an awful lot personally, if these big cats were surviving and breeding then that would be a huge story.
Dan Whitelock
Senior Member
Why would it be a huge story? It's a creature living quite happily in the wild, in the countryside, doing it's best to avoid humans... Much like me really...
Look at all the other invasive species that roam freely and folk don't bat an eyelid.
If it was an elephant taken up residence on Hyde Park Corner or Birmingham Bull Ring I'd get it, but given the fact big cats were readily available to buy on the open market, still available now if you're such inclined, I don't think it's such a crazy phenomenon that the gutter press has pushed since the wave of reports in the south west in the early/mid nineties.
The vast majority of the public nowadays are more interested in junk on the tellybox or pointless internet trends than the creatures we have living here, hence the credible reports and evidence is somewhat in its own niche community, and as a part of a research and recording team we have no reason or interest to shout about it. Unless you were to stumble upon a protective mother with cubs, they do all they can to avoid humans so there's no danger to the population... Aside from the odd sheep getting snaffled and one or two foal attacks over the years, they don't do any harm.
The only thing that might be nice, speaking with my farmer hat on, is that there may be some kind of official acknowledgement from government in order to provide compensation for livestock losses, however that would be such a tricky one to tackle as they were never directly released by the government, it could be argued that there was a rise in releases after the DWA kicked in but there's been many more releases since then, mostly due to owners not being able to afford the meat to feed them.
Look at all the other invasive species that roam freely and folk don't bat an eyelid.
If it was an elephant taken up residence on Hyde Park Corner or Birmingham Bull Ring I'd get it, but given the fact big cats were readily available to buy on the open market, still available now if you're such inclined, I don't think it's such a crazy phenomenon that the gutter press has pushed since the wave of reports in the south west in the early/mid nineties.
The vast majority of the public nowadays are more interested in junk on the tellybox or pointless internet trends than the creatures we have living here, hence the credible reports and evidence is somewhat in its own niche community, and as a part of a research and recording team we have no reason or interest to shout about it. Unless you were to stumble upon a protective mother with cubs, they do all they can to avoid humans so there's no danger to the population... Aside from the odd sheep getting snaffled and one or two foal attacks over the years, they don't do any harm.
The only thing that might be nice, speaking with my farmer hat on, is that there may be some kind of official acknowledgement from government in order to provide compensation for livestock losses, however that would be such a tricky one to tackle as they were never directly released by the government, it could be argued that there was a rise in releases after the DWA kicked in but there's been many more releases since then, mostly due to owners not being able to afford the meat to feed them.
