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Is it me? Is it real?

Mike Hodgkiss said:
Spoil sport :D As is clear I do believe that large none domestic cats roam our countryside , this is based purely on the testament of four people two of which I know well and trust implicitly . I think a paw print is good evidence but clearly it could be faked . I agree there is a frustrating lack of decent photographic evidence but to be fair if you were confronted by one would you be fumbling around for your camera phone or be tooled up with a digital SLR with a telephoto lense ? As I stated in my earlier post people who encounter these creatures [ basically farmers and gamekeepers ] will shoot them and keep quiet , publicity of this nature is not what they want . It's just like people who shoot otters [ allegedly ] they are not going to shout it from the roof tops for obvious reasons
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Shoot, Shovel, Shut up. ;)

Alex Gowney said:
There have been plenty of sightings of big cats Paul, certainly in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. A friend and his son saw one leap across the road in one bound a few years ago. It then sat and looked at them in their car. It was a tawny colour and I know of, and have seen, a very large tawny coloured cat skin that allegedly came from a big cat shot near Long Compton. There is absolutely no doubt that big cats are out there, the Forest of Dean in particular being home to many sightings. I would think Jeff could well be right in his suspicion that that is what he heard. It is the one thing that makes me uneasy when night fishing. I couldn't care less if a hundred headless horsemen came past, or a dozen vampire witches arrived, but the thought of a panther like creature watching me in the dark is extremely unsettling. It doesn't help that one of my favourite books is Man-eaters of Kumaon where the author, Jim Corbett, is very descriptive in the tension involved when you know you are being stalked by a man eating tiger or leopard!
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If you enjoy the books of Jim Corbett, I would recommend you have a look at the books on similar subjects written by Kenneth Anderson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Anderson_(writer)
 
David Gauntlett said:
I think it's a genetically modified otter........

Cheers, Dave.
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i had an old chap who said he had worked at a mink farm and he tried to convince me the males were 6ft long. lol i think he was sober but god knows what they were breeding, Giant Amazonian River Otters maybe.
 
Living here on Cannock Chase reports of big cats have circulated for years, mostly unsubstansiated reports by locals and local newspapers etc, I didnt believe any of it, I usually walk maybe 2 or 3 miles a day over the Chase and never seen anything until one summer morning about 5am I took my dog a walk over a quiet area, then I saw a big black cat emerge from the bracken, stand in the path about 30 yds ahead of me staring my way, when seeing my dog it then took one leap and cleared off into the forest...I told my Mother the next day, and she told me of a close reliable family friend having seen the same kind of creature in the middle of the road at night while driving through the same area..also I have suddenly experienced total silence and a eerie feeling then finding a large pool of fresh blood on the path!!..with no evidence of a kill....I certainly do believe in big cats existence here, as zooologists confirm there is plenty of food, shelter and environment to support them.
 
This thread gets better by the day! The total silence and eerie feeling you refer to, Chris, is what I would class as heightened awareness. Gets the adrenaline flowing!

Here's today's suggestion for fitting trackers to big cats in zoos in case they escape.

Big cats need GPS tracking, says group after Lynx escape - BBC News

I wonder who among the angling fraternity would download an app telling them if an escapee was in the vicinity? Imagine what ones reaction to an 'alert' on a smartphone would be like!!!! ;) Mind you, at least the phone would then be at hand for getting a photo...
 
Some great posts on here chaps despite the childish couple of posts.

It was that eerie silence that made the hairs on my neck stand up.
 
Jeff Collins said:
Some great posts on here chaps despite the childish couple of posts.

It was that eerie silence that made the hairs on my neck stand up.
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Childish couple of posts? I assume you mean those that don't subscribe to your imaginary Big Cat?
Can't see anything wrong with anyone's posts, apart from your last dig.
 
i believe there are all sorts of strange things have turned up over the years, probably escaped or released by private owners. Some years back a lynx was caught by ZSL in Camden. They never found where it came from. More worryingly for me, being a wuss, big cats if they are out there will pretty much avoid people but pretty sure there have been a couple of reports of Wolverines killed by cars in the past. That is something i do not want to meet, seriously bad attitude lol.
Big cats breeding...i doubt as there is still no concrete evidence as far as i am aware. Escapees maybe. I was told by a gamekeeper some years ago of large prints found on an estate, no other signs apart from dead deer were found.
I think many of us hope there are as they are a mystery in a world thats clinical and lacking in wonder.
I am convinced i once saw a Racoon on a footpath at dusk.
 
Paul Dowgill said:
I suggest Feral by George Monbiot...a very interesting read on rewilding with a chapter on big cat sightings...
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Mr Monbiot is a great writer - thanks for the recommendation.

Yes, enjoying this thread a great deal. In my view, the fact that cats have such an acute sense of smell and will normally bolt when a human's in close proximity adds credibility to their existence.

Right - I'm riding up to Loch Ness on Shergar to have a chat about it with Elvis. :)
 
Richard Parsons said:
Mr Monbiot is a great writer - thanks for the recommendation.

Yes, enjoying this thread a great deal. In my view, the fact that cats have such an acute sense of smell and will normally bolt when a human's in close proximity adds credibility to their existence.

Right - I'm riding up to Loch Ness on Shergar to have a chat about it with Elvis. :)
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Considering 'Big Cats' that have escaped into the wild from the custody of Humans, I can't see the 'fear' of Humans would be a factor Besides it's just a load of codswallop anyway, also a bit surprised that so many on here actually believe that the countryside is littered with them.
Show me the evidence.... and I will eat humble pie, of course there is none, I wonder why?:rolleyes:
 
Sooner, rather than later, we will have some evidence because the plethora of dashcams now being employed by joe public will eventually catch one in HD. :)
 
My friends dad is a farmer and one of his friends breeds pigs and he has found 3 pig carcasses up trees on his property a few years back
 
Neil Smart said:
Considering 'Big Cats' that have escaped into the wild from the custody of Humans, I can't see the 'fear' of Humans would be a factor Besides it's just a load of codswallop anyway, also a bit surprised that so many on here actually believe that the countryside is littered with them.
Show me the evidence.... and I will eat humble pie, of course there is none, I wonder why?:rolleyes:
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Great topic this . Admittedly we don't have the HD evidence that you require Neil , but what would your explanation be to the several people on the forum who have seen these creatures ? Were they hallucinating , dreaming ,or just plain mistaken ?
 
How about the one that was shot down south, and the rotten remains of one found in Scotland?
There's quite a lot of evidence out there to prove there's the odd one knocking about. Why are people so hell bent on suggesting otherwise??
 
Neil - plenty of evidence, from what I read, even if I've not experienced such an event. This "show me the evidence" phrase you use - are you expecting someone to show up on your doorstep with a dossier primed with hard evidence? Various posters have quoted (anecdotally in some cases) evidence or supplied URLs. Is this not worthy of your consideration? :rolleyes:
 
Richard Parsons said:
Neil - plenty of evidence, from what I read, even if I've not experienced such an event. This "show me the evidence" phrase you use - are you expecting someone to show up on your doorstep with a dossier primed with hard evidence? Various posters have quoted (anecdotally in some cases) evidence or supplied URLs. Is this not worthy of your consideration? :rolleyes:
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Well said Richard.
 
The problem is there have been lots of sightings of 'big' cats but no corroborative evidence such as actual tracks or dead cats (one was found in Scotland a number of years ago but was part of two that had been released by someone heading to jail i think) never mind a 'clear' image - as i noted above a black animal from distance is very hard to define. According to the press there have been sightings nearly every where - including Sydenham, Barnet - somewhere in the region of 2000-4000 a year. Around three-quarters sighted are shiny black, likely to be a rare form of leopard - no one though has ever reported the more common spotted leopard. Isn't that odd? Cats would not be hard to find as they are territorial, have dens, leave hair behind, scratch and mark...yet all those who are out looking for them have never seen one or reported any hard evidence... it is a nice, romantic idea but so far this is all it seems to be.
 
I've only seen a badger twice in 50+ years and I spend a lot of time driving overnight. There must be tens of thousands of those nationwide. Foxes on the other hand, virtually on a daily basis. Guess if anything out there prefers to keep away from humans then it will.
 
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