Hamster Posted May 10, 2017 Report Share Posted May 10, 2017 What is incredible is the fact that when a non resident bird the size of a bee gets blown off course it gets spotted within hours and featured on national news, snakes which match the colour of the vegetation around them with a thickness measured in centimeters which go out of their way to avoid being spotted are routinely seen and photographed but cats as big as a labrador can pull off a Predator disappearing act. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Funker Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 As I started this thread, I didn't want to start the variance of debates it has started, all I wanted was an idea why a body ( for whatever reason) has never been found be it road kill or whateverI can believe they did/do exist especially back when many were turned out into the country side, why not one body, can't have all be magic'd away by the Ministry! My guess would be there are still some remote fairly uninhabited parts of the UK which is where these cats may likely gravitate to. The population of them if they exist is probably very low. So as and when they die it may well be in a remote inaccessible area where the body will either never be seen or will decompose/be scavenged before it can be found. I believe people have seen them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 I have little doubt there were a very few big cats lose in the UK ( 2 were trapped in Scotland) But most sightings are of a black panther type cat. Black panthers are very rare in the their native habitits so how come they are the most common sightings in the UK. I suspect the most of the sightings are of black dogs or large domestic cats and perhaps 1% are of true big cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncher Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 For me it comes to one thing is were enough set free to have successfully bred and reproduced, if not then they have all died of old age! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted May 11, 2017 Report Share Posted May 11, 2017 There are so many reports of sightings but the logic would suggest that if there are so many big cats out there that some of them would get run over on the road or or run into a standing gun on a fox drive somewhere. But, several people that I know have said that they have seen the typically black panther/ Labrador type of animal, some of these sightings have been at reasonably close range and the people concerned are neither stupid or liars. I've never seen one or been anywhere where one has been turned out or seen on a shoot. All I know is that if and when I see one I'll take some scaled pictures and put them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted August 3, 2017 Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 Went to sit out at one of the game pens earlier this evening as crops are being harvested and the fox are on the move, arrived at just after 7pm and on entering a small clearing as usual some 10 yards from the pen i was met with very noisy pheasants coming at me and over my head others off to my right taking flight along with magpies going crazy and a back end of very dark grey/black stocky and very furry something exiting to the right into the undergrowth, not bounding but appeared to just travel quickly and smoothly all in about a second or so,definitely not mr fox I had the intention of meeting and the tail which was about all i could focus on was curled upward , same shape along its length and guessing at 3" diameter. if this was a domestic then it was the biggest i have ever come across as at the short distance it was at and in relation to the feeder and other kit that it stood proud of all information taken in what was not much more than a second or so , i would estimate that it was at least knee height. Always been a little sceptical until now, and still cant figure it out logically ......stayed till dark and will be back at the pen tomorrow as usual and over the weekend for more babysitting duties, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted August 3, 2017 Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 Get down at first light and hope it doesn't rain, could be some good pad marks for you to find?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munzy Posted August 3, 2017 Report Share Posted August 3, 2017 Wow... this is exciting. Subscribed! P.s. Maybe get some trail cams around the area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 My mate up in Warwickshire who is a big sceptic had his mind changed at the beginning of the week when what he can only describe as a big black cat about the same height as his lurcher so about 24 inches high, disappeared into a wood where he was out walking his lurchers. He took them into the wood in the line it had just gone and he said they couldn't pick up any scent from it at all. I know they're sight hounds but they will hunt if they find a scent. He's a sceptic and of course he didn't get any photos and the ground was too hard for prints but he's convinced of what he saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 (edited) I have little doubt there were a very few big cats lose in the UK ( 2 were trapped in Scotland) But most sightings are of a black panther type cat. Black panthers are very rare in the their native habitits so how come they are the most common sightings in the UK. I suspect the most of the sightings are of black dogs or large domestic cats and perhaps 1% are of true big cats. It is said, I have no way of confirming whether its true, that the fur darkens when they live in hostile environments and it has been observed happening on big cats in captivity. There is no real doubt in my mind there were cats on the loose around Hertfordshire 35+ years ago but a lot were "allegedly" hunted down by the Ministry of Agriculture and quietly disposed of. The government of the day made a mistake in banning them the way they did. It was miss handled, one day they were legal, next day they were banned with no way of re-homing them . Typical knee jerk 'ban it' mentality with no understanding of the consequences. We have all seen the effects of other knee jerk bans with shooting and fox hunting. I think the desire, on the part of the authorities, to supress rather than own up to the after effects of that mistake created the myth we have now, its not a big mystery how they came to be there. Edited August 4, 2017 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davyo Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 All these sightings but no pictures @ when we do get pictures they are never clear.Just like pictures of Lockness monster and own space craft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadkill Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 All these sightings but no pictures @ when we do get pictures they are never clear.Just like pictures of Lockness monster and own space craft. Exactly, I still await these clear pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 All these sightings but no pictures @ when we do get pictures they are never clear.Just like pictures of Lockness monster and own space craft. They took believable pics of the Loch Ness monster before everyone had 5 million pixel digi cameras on their person you'd think someone would have been fast enough to take one off a bleeding labrador size creature in the last 35 years. Or their lair, or their poo, or their kill, or their flattened offspring, or their dead carcasses or their footprints in the snow , or their scratch marks, or samples of their hair caught on barbed wire, or . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 Nothing new under the sun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Footprints Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon69 Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 It is said, I have no way of confirming whether its true, that the fur darkens when they live in hostile environments and it has been observed happening on big cats in captivity. There is no real doubt in my mind there were cats on the loose around Hertfordshire 35+ years ago but a lot were "allegedly" hunted down by the Ministry of Agriculture and quietly disposed of. The government of the day made a mistake in banning them the way they did. It was miss handled, one day they were legal, next day they were banned with no way of re-homing them . Typical knee jerk 'ban it' mentality with no understanding of the consequences. We have all seen the effects of other knee jerk bans with shooting and fox hunting. I think the desire, on the part of the authorities, to supress rather than own up to the after effects of that mistake created the myth we have now, its not a big mystery how they came to be there. If a FIA request was sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, requesting the numbers of big cats caught/killed, do you think they would provide it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendrix's rifle Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 They took believable pics of the Loch Ness monster before everyone had 5 million pixel digi cameras on their person you'd think someone would have been fast enough to take one off a bleeding labrador size creature in the last 35 years. Or their lair, or their poo, or their kill, or their flattened offspring, or their dead carcasses or their footprints in the snow , or their scratch marks, or samples of their hair caught on barbed wire, or . Got a picture off a print I will try and find on my phone if that helps! Was last year in January I think. You may doubt that there here and fair play, you see one you won't be taking pictures because it's not something you see. You will stand there with no breathe and gorm at it. You will proceed to stare at it until it's gone and then you will say I should have taken a photo. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 Got a picture off a print I will try and find on my phone if that helps! Was last year in January I think. You may doubt that there here and fair play, you see one you won't be taking pictures because it's not something you see. You will stand there with no breathe and gorm at it. You will proceed to stare at it until it's gone and then you will say I should have taken a photo. I bet your pic will look about as convincing as the ones we have of the Yeti, the rest of them do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 If a FIA request was sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, requesting the numbers of big cats caught/killed, do you think they would provide it? If your shot/trapped one would you go to the ministry or the local news ? I know which I'd do and it would involve some nice pics, most likey a cheque and a new rug for thr side of my bed with matching slippers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 If you shot one you may well get in trouble with your FEO. I know a bloke that shot a bull that had escaped from the market and was running around town and they finally got him cornered in a field and they took his guns off him for a while. The police had asked him to shoot it rather than get their marksmen out. So would you shoot one and go to the paper or bury it and say nothing? I'd hope to shoot one and find a friendly taxidermist I reckon! I bet they'd take a bit of shooting as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 If I saw a big cat in the countryside anywhere near my person which didn't immediately scarper or took the tiniest interest in my direction, not only would I shoot it at least twice, I would then call the police and the Sun (but not necessarily in that order) and negotiate mortgage level terms before revealing my whereabouts . I would also insist on Sean Penn playing me in the forthcoming movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 I'm already infamous enough 😜 So I'd probably freeze it until I found a friendly taxidermist and keep it to myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old farrier Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 You may want a box of these image upload html Good for big cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedark Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 Deep yaaaawwn and a little stretch . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 Couldn't be bothered to read the whole of this thread . I know that there are big cats wild out in the country side , certainly in Norfolk . I have seen one . Yes a malinistic leopard . It ran out of cover on a shoot day and was seen by myself and six other guns . There is absolutely no doubt in what we saw . I have seen many footprints around the farm from this cat and have many pictures of them . My farmer friend has seen this cat or another on a number of occasions about the farm . Harnser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornfree Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 [quote name="Hamster" post="3297123" timestamp="1501853511 I would also insist on Sean Penn playing me in the forthcoming movie. Danny devito would be more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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