Big Cats in the UK

[boris b 1]

All other creatures of this island of ours take a beating on the roads why dont a few of these big cats ever turn up at the side of the road ?

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

As a fervant "non believer " in this cat thing ,i will tell you why there is no such thing roaming our England .Every single county in this country has a fox pack of some discription that would of by now ,roused a cat from its daytime slumber and pushed it for all the field and followers to see or treed it for at least photos and a glass of port !.I fully understand that foxhounds arnt there to hunt cats but what cat ,or anything else would stay in cover and face 30 hounds.Imagine the public support hunting would get if it proved without dispute that a cat had been seen or treed and the authorities notified and attended !.Hunt followers notice everything leaving cover .Ive been to several sites of so say sightings and none have left behind large pug marks .Fantasy .

[Tyla 3,179]

i used to think it was all bollocks ,until one saturday morning last july i was out and about with my son and the dogs , i was walking down part of the wealden way in sussex,the dogs were off in the woods ,and my son was lagging behind, on the track/path way,so i stopped ,and turned to see where he was,i spotted him straight away with all three dogs working there way back to me,i didnt say anything i knew theyd all catch up,i turned to carry on when directly in front of me crossing on the path from one side of the woods to the other, was a black cat :icon_eek:panther it was completely silent and moving real slow,it took me a few seconds to register what it was,then the adrenalin kicked in and i made my way to where it crossed the ditch,i started into the woods but stopped suddenly and had a bit of a re think about being a little bit unprepaired for any sort of face to face,to be honest i was shitting myself when i thought about my son being there,i told a few people and reported it monday morning to defra,think what you will

 

A keeper i used to go lamping with was always certain sure he'd seen one while out on the lamp near ditchling beacon, would have been in the mid nineties, he always took a .243 with him after that but never saw it again.

 

Yet again no proof though

[macberran 2]

I'm a shy,smart,large non- ind predator, @ 4am I hear the door close and the pack bay-up...... some 1 mile away, dohwaszat, I'll hang out here and see what it is. Comeon..20miles the other way,at least. Besides hounds or dogs don't "take" the scent. One lady who I believe had vet Quals, out walking the dog and the dog completely ignored the point were the cat had passed in front off her, a chap driving home comes across a polis car and a JCB @ what appeared too be RTA, offering assistance he was told all under control,he also noticed a very large cat filling the front bucket. Drove off and next day asked at the bobbie-shop as too the whereabouts off said feline...........WHAT feline sir!!!!! what RTA. .

Its on the web-sites,some are just fantasists but some like the lady and the fireman in Cinderford are credible, I'll see if I can dig them up myself though they are on the net.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

.....................Dont take the scent .Listen mate a cat stinks to a dog .My dogs can trail a feral cat for as long as i require them to so there is no worries there ..Hounds are kept to fox by the hunt staff ,they dont willingly follow only charlie .Youve only got to watch them riot on deer to know that .No ,definately not any big cats in this country .Another thing ,if there were these "cats" then why wont the police grant at least one person in the area of a sighting ,the variation to shoot the bugger .They wont entertain anything of the sort .

[talpa 55]

it was several weeks later the forensic tests on hair in the dogs mouth, confirmed it was a Badger.

 

 

Again you cherry pick my points to suit ye own view, Dawn. Ye've completely side stepped, as is becoming usual for ye here, the main issues I repeatedly raise. And That is a down right fabrication. READ the very BBC / Government sponsered article you yeself thrust at us and ye'll see it clearly states the tests were " Inconclusive ". Then they tack on that the hairs " Could have been badger. ". As I say above; By that 'reasoning' they might equelly have been Orang Utan.

 

Please return to post # 9 and start providing your Answers. Otherwise this thread will only continue with the vast majority of contributors stating they believe there are cats out there. Me repeating saliant facts like a parrot and you slipping and sliding as you attempt to 'prove' your own hunch by sheer force of will and or monotony.

 

Hi Ditch, I'm with you on this, aldrich trap approval in '95, just in case?

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/c...Writtens-3.html

spring traps column762 " field results were collected" ? from the UK??

may be the upper floor needed a few new rugs.

Talpa

[salukixminshaw 1]

As a fervant "non believer " in this cat thing ,i will tell you why there is no such thing roaming our England .Every single county in this country has a fox pack of some discription that would of by now ,roused a cat from its daytime slumber and pushed it for all the field and followers to see or treed it for at least photos and a glass of port !.I fully understand that foxhounds arnt there to hunt cats but what cat ,or anything else would stay in cover and face 30 hounds.Imagine the public support hunting would get if it proved without dispute that a cat had been seen or treed and the authorities notified and attended !.Hunt followers notice everything leaving cover .Ive been to several sites of so say sightings and none have left behind large pug marks .Fantasy .

do hounds run up trees

[salukixminshaw 1]

there was one shot up in tomich vilage in the 80s next to inverness

[Guest ocs1867]

I think if Lynx are running loose in the UK they should be left to do their own thing. If we have large prey like the Deer and Wild Boar we need a big predator.

 

Did anyone hear anything about Wolves being put back in the UK?

[elisderyn 496]

I have been told from a very reliable source that there is a project in Scotland involving re-introduction..........I have no reason to disbelieve this....

[Dawn B 212]

it was several weeks later the forensic tests on hair in the dogs mouth, confirmed it was a Badger.

 

 

Again you cherry pick my points to suit ye own view, Dawn. Ye've completely side stepped, as is becoming usual for ye here, the main issues I repeatedly raise. And That is a down right fabrication. READ the very BBC / Government sponsered article you yeself thrust at us and ye'll see it clearly states the tests were " Inconclusive ". Then they tack on that the hairs " Could have been badger. ". As I say above; By that 'reasoning' they might equelly have been Orang Utan.

 

Please return to post # 9 and start providing your Answers. Otherwise this thread will only continue with the vast majority of contributors stating they believe there are cats out there. Me repeating saliant facts like a parrot and you slipping and sliding as you attempt to 'prove' your own hunch by sheer force of will and or monotony.

 

Ok Ds, lets look at what you say.

 

Which of those looks remotely like an adult Couger, observed at length and close range in the full beam of headlights?

None of them, but a cougar in the headlights? yet STILL no evidence to prove it! Can you prove it was? Or is it just your "belief?"

 

The 'Chausse in the Dockyard wasn't spotty.

So? Many wild Cats and Bengal/Savannah type Cats are brown all over, or ticked in appearance like the Scottish Wild cat. These are the ones discarded by breeders and exhibitors, sold to pet owners in favour of the spotty and tabby types, therefore live a more "normal" life and are more likely to end up outside and mistaken for something else.

 

If " It stands to reason some will have escpaed and would be the most likely IMO to be living wild and be seen as a jungle or Wild cat. "; How come Millet et al have never encountered either?

I say again, because there arent any! But it still stands to reason some pet Cats will have escaped and be mistaken for a Big Cat when in fact it isnt.

 

I wonder, come to that, how many of our more northerly bretheran have ever sighted a 'Scottish Wild Cat', even in areas where they are indisputably known to exist?

Thing is here DS, we KNOW these exist, they have been filmed, followed and watched, Big Cats havent, we have no conclusive proof they are here at all, not even a clear photograph, but we have hour long programs on the Scottish Wild Cat.

 

I agree they said the tests were inconclusive, but they DO say it was NOT a big Cat, I quote:

A dog which was killed in west Wales was not the victim of a big cat attack, Welsh Assembly officials have confirmed.

It had been thought the whippet had been killed by a black leopard, but a series of tests on the dog's body showed no traces of leopard DNA.

They found NO Leopard DNA, apart from the melanistic leopard, can you tell me of any other BIG BLACK Cats that are living in the wild? except the local moggy!?

 

I quoted just this one piece DS from a quick google search, surely you must think we'd have proof by now if there were any living in our countryside?

Dawn.

[redrob... 0]

the hounds would spook any large cat from its resting place, lads lamping and bushing every day night, all over the uk, and as already said not one run over,

[macberran 2]

As u said banging around the bush...quiet like..as we all think we are,lights and curses some even with 4wd sat upwind smoking ..only the 1 guv thinking we should be on anything that comes along F--k ,....come-on. Road kills maybe after 100 yrs off knowing are arterial routes they stay away or are not reported. OK say for argus sake I'm a farmer, like my privacy, live a qt life and avoid hustle, I'm out one night bring one in the sights and ...success...phone the polis or red-tops...no-way, quick picci and bury!

[macberran 2]

PS intresting topic though

[FPO 0]

Cats dont leave claw marks, their claws are retracted, and I doubt a cat would jump a gate, they fit through the smallest of spaces and do not expel unecessary energy. My opinion only.

 

As far as I was always led to believe cats claws are retracted until the point of jumping/ pouncing, but having no real interest in cats I may be wrong. along this area this would have been the easiest way through as everything else is fenced, gate not always closed so may have been using route before when gate open?

 

Happy to have any suggestion as i said before