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Is it me? Is it real?

Turns out it was the neighbours Asian Bengal! A 7th generation descendant of an Asian Leopard. The owner contacted the Staffordshire(?) Observer and the local bill as she was worried that the trophy hunters would turn out and shoot her pet.

On the subject, I went to a zoo today and saw a pair of Leopards..... they're not actually as big as one imagines, I'd say only 6" higher at the shoulder than a labrador.
 
Dan Whitelock said:
Turns out it was the neighbours Asian Bengal! A 7th generation descendant of an Asian Leopard. The owner contacted the Staffordshire(?) Observer and the local bill as she was worried that the trophy hunters would turn out and shoot her pet.

On the subject, I went to a zoo today and saw a pair of Leopards..... they're not actually as big as one imagines, I'd say only 6" higher at the shoulder than a labrador.
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Yes the tail is the same as that 'Big Cat', I reckon the guy that filmed it must have known what it was, talking about taking advantage of the gullible :)
 

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Anthony Pearson said:
Sorry, but I had to resurrect this thread. After all, we know someone's already releasing wild cats...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-40542306 :)
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When will "environmentalists" start putting the environment first? A bloody vanity project, I've heard similar calls over wolves and bears. These people are talking about one or two strays but reintroduction of a viable breeding population. We simply do not have enough wide open space with healthy stocks of wild life to support reintroducing top predators in this country. Yes there's a fair few deer out there but they are hardly heaving, a pair of Lynx would quickly have a local impact, a dozen pairs in the new forest would have a major impact and once they started competing for food they will quickly pick on easier to catch live stock. Let's be sensible here.
 
When you press on the 5 year plan link it goes to their Facebook page .Some of the comments are worrying,the attitude of some of the supporters, like the sort of people who will release them even if they get knocked back.I spent some special time with a very tame 10 month old Lynx in Alaska a few years ago. A most amazing animal,i was extremely impressed but not over here.The claim they will be tourist attractions, but if they get that visible, the farmers will take care of them.
 
Mark Swaby said:
When you press on the 5 year plan link it goes to their Facebook page .Some of the comments are worrying,the attitude of some of the supporters, like the sort of people who will release them even if they get knocked back.I spent some special time with a very tame 10 month old Lynx in Alaska a few years ago. A most amazing animal,i was extremely impressed but not over here.The claim they will be tourist attractions, but if they get that visible, the farmers will take care of them.
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Fluffy animal syndrome defies common sense.
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
When will "environmentalists" start putting the environment first? A bloody vanity project, I've heard similar calls over wolves and bears. These people are talking about one or two strays but reintroduction of a viable breeding population. We simply do not have enough wide open space with healthy stocks of wild life to support reintroducing top predators in this country. Yes there's a fair few deer out there but they are hardly heaving, a pair of Lynx would quickly have a local impact, a dozen pairs in the new forest would have a major impact and once they started competing for food they will quickly pick on easier to catch live stock. Let's be sensible here.
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Stephen, the UK deer population is having a tremendously detrimental impact on our native woodlands, aside from climate change, over grazing by deer which suppresses natural regeneration and strips out the understorey is the probably the greatest threat to our native woodlands.

When you state 'wide open space' what do you mean? As 'ambush' predators Lynx live and hunt in dense woodland areas and shy away from open spaces because they are not equipped to hunt in them. If you mean that there is not enough space in the UK then look at what's happening in Europe where they appear to have spread into parts of Belgium and Holland from Germany.

Apart from the Scotland, the area around Kielder (densely wooded, remote, large deer population) looks ideal for the trial. We spend 10's of millions restocking woodlands and putting up deer fencing in the UK - what if Lynx can help restore some of the natural balance? It's often suggested that Lynx will start predating sheep - that might be the case in wooded areas (where sheep should really be fenced out) but it is thought the likelihood of that happening (judging by what happens elsewhere) is low. But if it was found to happen then it would be easy enough to set up a compensation scheme for farmers in a similar way to some of the sea eagle schemes in Western Scotland. Sheep farming in the uplands is largely uneconomic anyway, nearly all upland sheep farmers lose money on keeping sheep, it's only the subsidy payments that keep them so that the economic impact of predation is likely to be very low in the grand scheme of things - certainly not compatible with the economic impact of deer browsing in woodlands. Should sheep farming have such hegemony over UK land use that we can't even consider a *trialled* reintroduction of a native predator?
 
Yes and it would make economic sense to generate income in these remote places by starting big game hunting for them once established.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
Stephen, the UK deer population is having a tremendously detrimental impact on our native woodlands, aside from climate change, over grazing by deer which suppresses natural regeneration and strips out the understorey is the probably the greatest threat to our native woodlands.

When you state 'wide open space' what do you mean? As 'ambush' predators Lynx live and hunt in dense woodland areas and shy away from open spaces because they are not equipped to hunt in them. If you mean that there is not enough space in the UK then look at what's happening in Europe where they appear to have spread into parts of Belgium and Holland from Germany.

Apart from the Scotland, the area around Kielder (densely wooded, remote, large deer population) looks ideal for the trial. We spend 10's of millions restocking woodlands and putting up deer fencing in the UK - what if Lynx can help restore some of the natural balance? It's often suggested that Lynx will start predating sheep - that might be the case in wooded areas (where sheep should really be fenced out) but it is thought the likelihood of that happening (judging by what happens elsewhere) is low. But if it was found to happen then it would be easy enough to set up a compensation scheme for farmers in a similar way to some of the sea eagle schemes in Western Scotland. Sheep farming in the uplands is largely uneconomic anyway, nearly all upland sheep farmers lose money on keeping sheep, it's only the subsidy payments that keep them so that the economic impact of predation is likely to be very low in the grand scheme of things - certainly not compatible with the economic impact of deer browsing in woodlands. Should sheep farming have such hegemony over UK land use that we can't even consider a *trialled* reintroduction of a native predator?
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I can't claim to be an expert and you've obviously done some reading.
Fully aware of the damage Deer do, not to mention the native status of many species are not native. I believe only Roe and red are considered native fully. The deer population is managed by shoots though is it not? Wether this is ultimately effective is obviously a separate question but they key is managed. The trouble is they are not obligate feeders are they, they may prefer deer but I'm sure they will work on opportunity.

By open spacers I mean open countryside, not necessarily open Heath or grass lands. Britains towns have sprawled into each other leaving a patch work quilt of countryside in many parts intersected by motorways. A vast majority of our country side is farmland which you rightly point out isn't their habitat. I'm sure we can all relate to how the towns are spreading as pressure mounts to house an ever growing human population. Some suggestion of a population of 70m in the next decade. The situation in Europe is rather different, firstly the population density and ratio of open space is rather different. Secondly as you point out they have the ability to disperse across the continent rather than this island.

I'd be interested to see how a trial develops, I certainly wouldn't refute a successful study. My concern however lies in the longer term, in the ability to adequately manage the situation. If in 50 years the population has been a success do we trust that we'd be allowed to manage them or would misty eyed city dwellers appose it every step of the way blinding over looking a unexpected outcome.

Maybe my rhetoric was alarmist but I genuinely fear that longer term we could end up with a poorly managed situation with untouchable "pussey cats" having a harmful effect on other native species. As I say I don't believe there is enough habit for national distribution. Can you imagine the situation in years to come where by it was required to shoot one? Think you'd find it difficult to even have the case aired that they were harmful let alone get permission to control.
 
Graham Elliott said:
Yes and it would make economic sense to generate income in these remote places by starting big game hunting for them once established.
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Totally agree. It could generate a lot of income for some estates and an ideal way to control the population if required. Same with wolves..
 
not much chance of finding that up there, miles of marshland and then mount snowdon, took the grandchildren to that mini zoo a couple of times and wasn,t very impressed by conditions ect, thats one very wild area
 
A lynx escaped from Dartmoor Zoo last summer, they recaptured it after 3 weeks. If it's never learnt to hunt properly e.g taught by its mother, then it probably won't last long I reckon, the area might be remote but probably not much easy wild prey for it to feed on.
 
joe theres so many rabbits in the dunes and marshland at borth its hard not to step on em, beautiful place but its really wild a few miles at snowden, we got lost ob beaten tracks up there and the sat nav got no signal, we drove for hours before we found road:eek: never been up there since
 
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