Pumas and big cats

[thepriest 0]

Hi ladies and gents

We hear a lot in the media about wild cats in our countryside. I was wondering if any of you have had any expierinces whilst out hunting?

[Sako.243 1]

Hi ladies and gents

We hear a lot in the media about wild cats in our countryside. I was wondering if any of you have had any expierinces whilst out hunting?

 

Heard and seen a couple of Feral cats being shot on Grouse Moors/Deer Forests around the 20lb mark. Believe me that is a fair lump of a cat.

 

Not starting the stone throwing but about 13/14 years ago, A summers evening (Still Light) as i was heading home from a mates house on my 50cc motor bike, A black panther type cat about the same hight as a tall Labrador but a good bit longer jumped a stock fence and crossed the road no further than 20 yards in front of me, Cleared the opposite fence and took off like lightning through a grass field to a wood, Where i 13/14 years on have permision to shoot. Got off my bike in a state of shock and watched this thing for a couple of minutes till it dissapeared.

Edited September 21, 2008 by Sako.243

[Simoman 110]

This subject has been debated before and I'm sure both sides of the fence will be well represented shortly Personally yes I have seen a big cat. I saw a puma at close range cross a forrest ride near my house in Lincolnshire whilst walking the dogs in 1998, not seen it since although there are the odd sighting and there has been for more than the last ten years.

Do I beleive they exist? Definately, although I think that only a very small number of "sightings" are genuine and the majority are cases of mistaken identity invoving dogs/ferels/deer etc.

 

You will get posts shortly asking why there isn't any evidence, of course there is, a puma caught in Scotland, lynx in Suffolk and Northern Ireland, swamp cats in Hampshire etc.................yet still they will ignore and ask "wheres the evidence"? I guy I know was at a stable yard in Grantham a few years ago when armed police were called after the owner found an large apparently injured black cat lying in a stable block, they rocked up and all watched as the cat cleared the paddock fencing and ran off............

[Little Butch 16]

Where about was the Lynx found In suffolk?

This Is something that really interests me

Butch

[Simoman 110]

Beccles Suffolk in 91.

[Little Butch 16]

Cheers big ears

Butch

[thepriest 0]

Hi ladies and gents

We hear a lot in the media about wild cats in our countryside. I was wondering if any of you have had any expierinces whilst out hunting?

 

Heard and seen a couple of Feral cats being shot on Grouse Moors/Deer Forests around the 20lb mark. Believe me that is a fair lump of a cat.

 

Not starting the stone throwing but about 13/14 years ago, A summers evening (Still Light) as i was heading home from a mates house on my 50cc motor bike, A black panther type cat about the same hight as a tall Labrador but a good bit longer jumped a stock fence and crossed the road no further than 20 yards in front of me, Cleared the opposite fence and took off like lightning through a grass field to a wood, Where i 13/14 years on have permision to shoot. Got off my bike in a state of shock and watched this thing for a couple of minutes till it dissapeared.

 

 

This subject has been debated before and I'm sure both sides of the fence will be well represented shortly Personally yes I have seen a big cat. I saw a puma at close range cross a forrest ride near my house in Lincolnshire whilst walking the dogs in 1998, not seen it since although there are the odd sighting and there has been for more than the last ten years.

Do I beleive they exist? Definately, although I think that only a very small number of "sightings" are genuine and the majority are cases of mistaken identity invoving dogs/ferels/deer etc.

 

You will get posts shortly asking why there isn't any evidence, of course there is, a puma caught in Scotland, lynx in Suffolk and Northern Ireland, swamp cats in Hampshire etc.................yet still they will ignore and ask "wheres the evidence"? I guy I know was at a stable yard in Grantham a few years ago when armed police were called after the owner found an large apparently injured black cat lying in a stable block, they rocked up and all watched as the cat cleared the paddock fencing and ran off............

I have never seen any big cats myself. But years ago when i was a under keeper i was checking my fox snares one morning and i found one of them had caught, This is in the days when you could use drag poles, I tracked the trail for about fifty sixty yards, keeping in mind this was a heavy pole and no other fox had dragged it much more than ten feet or so. I eventually reach the hedge line there was a drainage ditch i could clearly see the trail from the pole crossing the shallow water, Thats when i saw the footprints in the mud. They were far bigger than a foxes and feline in appearance.I carried on down the other side until i eventually found the pole wedged between some stumps.What ever had been caught had managed to free itself. On examination i found hair that i couldnt identify it wasnt fox or deer. It was very fine and brown with no odour to it. When i told my head keeper about it he laughed, He thought i was having a prank with him, It wasnt until i took him and showed him the footprints he belived me.

 

I think there is a number of cats around but very few and far between, Like you say most sightings are mistaken identity. If there was any number of them we would see a lot more getting caught and shot.

[polecat 1]

ave seen one 12 years ago while working b t sites in berchin had to tell old bill as there was a lot of sitting at time black size of large lab

[speedlamper 0]

i saw one once, followed it for 1/2 mile then it dissapeared behind a sign saying thanks for visiting knowsley safari park and that was the last i saw off it, think it was a lion

[moter poacher 2]

with the sighting of the black foxlately i bet thats what most have maybe thought of the big cats

[mackem 28,443]

Large puma-sized cryptids living and breeding in our densly-populated isles?Snow-leopards,siberian-tigers,clouded-leopards,all living in inhospitable sparsly populated corners of the globe,but each,even snow-leopards living almost on the roof of the world have been filmed,photographed,studied closely,theres proof-positive,concrete tangible evidence of their existance,point me in the direction of one undisputable piece of UK footage?Swamp cats?Lynx?Not exactly a breeding nucleus of black-panther or puma are they?When was the last time a foxhound pack treed a large non-indiginous felide? I am open minded,I believe these cats exist,they arrive on tuesdays teleported from the planet felis to a sportsground just outside bromsgrove

[desertdog 149]

have,nt seen it but there was one sighted in cambridgeshire recently,apparently.

[Simoman 110]

Large puma-sized cryptids living and breeding in our densly-populated isles?Snow-leopards,siberian-tigers,clouded-leopards,all living in inhospitable sparsly populated corners of the globe,but each,even snow-leopards living almost on the roof of the world have been filmed,photographed,studied closely,theres proof-positive,concrete tangible evidence of their existance,point me in the direction of one undisputable piece of UK footage?Swamp cats?Lynx?Not exactly a breeding nucleus of black-panther or puma are they?When was the last time a foxhound pack treed a large non-indiginous felide? I am open minded,I believe these cats exist,they arrive on tuesdays teleported from the planet felis to a sportsground just outside bromsgrove

 

 

I understand your point mackem but nobody will tell me I saw a deer or fox I also believe that the smaller species produce less interest but the fact is there have been a number of escaped exotics that have been captured or shot. I think that there are a very small number of pumas in our countryside. And if you know your astronony you would know the cats arrive on a Friday from Uranus

[mackem 28,443]

The cat that arrived from Uranus was the poop-cat(felis faecal)Ok,you have dug out a few old library shots of escaped,or released smaller cats,dangerous animal act?1976?Nowadays we have satellites capable of photographing a single flake of Dandruff on Osama bin ladens shoulder,every man and his dog carries a mobile phone with in-built camera,theres a tiny breeding population of red-necked wallabies in this country,they are photographed and documented,wheres the PROOF of a breeding population of so called big-cats in this country?Show me genuine photographic evidence of a cat stalking the english countryside,not a grainy wobbly granny cat image,but crystal clear pics?Or a detailed pic,it shouldnt be so difficult,everyone seems to see them?Trail cameras?Set up and bait it?Its not happening is it?

Luckily I have a few yardie friends in Brixton,yesterday while enjoying a sociable get together they managed to photograph this through a haze of obscuring smoke,this I understand to be the only clear image of a big cat wild in the UK,because I have never seen any clearer,have you? One swallow does not a summer make,old library shots?I can get you hundreds,show me moving imagery?

[Simoman 110]

mackem, I agree if there was such a large exotic population we would have more footage. Thats why I think the actual numbers are small. The two lynx in the photos were shot in 1997 and 1991, the Jungle cat in 1989 and the puma 1980. Whether they were shot today or twenty years ago matter little as my point is that it proves that at some point some escapees or releases have occured. I have looked at lots of footage and photos and can honestly say I have seen two pieces of genuine footage and a handfull of photos that could be exotics. As for the breeding population, I didn't say there is as I don't beleive it either, just a few released illegal pets. I also beleive that there are far too many freaks and gimps who want to beleive in anything and get hysterical at the slighest photo of a bin liner which gives the thought less credibility.

 

I used to in the department issuing DWA licences and there are a lot more exotics pets out there than many people realise. We had various cats, monkeys and other other interesting creatures.