These four photos were taken at a location in Northants. They appear to show claw marks made by a big cat. The marks go all the way up the tree and around the tree as the cat hugged the trunk to gain grip and climb up...

During the late summer of 2000, a young boy called Josh was attacked by what he describes as a large black cat. The claw marks on his face bear testimony to the attack, and show clearly , by the spread of the scratches that the animal was of considerable size.

Earliest Sightings....

1763.... William Cobbet published "Rural Rides" in 1830 in which he told of a cat as big as a middle-sized spaniel that he had seen in the grounds of Waverley Abbey when a boy. On reporting this to his father he was severely beaten for fabricating the story. Born in 1763, he moved to London from the farm aged 19 - which would have been in 1782. This could therefore date his sighting to anywhere between 1763 and 1782.

1810.... On the 12th September a large cat was killed at Eskat Woods, near Ennerdale Water in Cumbria. The animal was hunted down and surrounded. Hounds ripped it to pieces after several shots had mortally wounded it.

1927.... On 14th January the "Daily Express" newspaper carried a report on page 3 headed 'MYSTERY "TIGER IF THE NORTH"'.

Side view of adult mare - which was attacked by a reported puma in West Wales - (July 1999)


A lynx was captured in London after a witness report of a leopard sat on a garden wall. The lynx was captured after being sedated by a vet with a dart and blow pipe. She was taken to London zoo and treated for a paw injury, she was given the name Lara there. (2001)

I think this stuff about big cats is real,But these cats have probably escaped from there owner that illegally smuggled them in. :devil:Because people do often smuggle these in.

Or that they are escaped zoo animals. Or like Canadian said illegally smuggled in.

nobody got any evidence concerning these animals?

only ones in the uk though...

I'm still trying to figure out why escaped felines in UK and Australia are cryptos...

cryptozoology

The study of creatures, such as the Sasquatch, whose existence has not been substantiated.

therefore i count alien big cats as cryptids, nobody really knows if they are there or not, or how they got there for certain...

They are large misplaced felines that either escaped or let free by careless owners, or Zoos.

If they *really* cared enough to catch one, they would have. But obviously the police and animal control don't care enough.

If I see an african lion poke his head out of the bush here and look at me, I'm not going to automaticaly think it's a cryptid beast. It's a lion, that got out from who ever had it.

I think the existance of big cats in the UK has actually been fairly well substantiated I'd say there are very few people indeed to no longer accept the fact that, yes, they most certainly are out there.

Exactly. And they are cats that we know that already exist. Like jaguars, leopards, and cougars...

nothing mysterious about them. As for the "But how did they...?" Bit.. if they escaped from someone who owned them, do you really think they'ed tell the police know that they had an illegaly kept large wild animal?

I'd say most of them are exotic pets that were released when they grew too large...zoo escapees would most certainly have been reported and recaptured (especially given it's very likely they'd be running around an urban area).

Chances are some of the animals released have mananaged to start their own little population in some places I just hope that a human doesn't end up getting killed by them...because the moment that happened, the government would probably set out to exterminate them

It's a given. They do that here.

If a cougar or wolf pack attacks a human.. or even cattle/sheep/farm animals in general.. they are hunted and killed without prejudice.

Then again...I'm not sure that the big cats over here havn't been officially recognised as a protected species either that, or there was a move to make them one.

Would be cool if they were. Or atleast capurted and placed in a zoo, or taken to their rightful habitat. Alaska's big enough and under populated enough that Cougars could go there... South America for jaguars.. africa for leopards...

Unfortunately, it depends altogether on how willing the government would be to invest money in relocating them....Although I do think they might do so, given the backlash from animal rights protestors would be incredible.

*chuckles* Well... they do have thier useses...

Poor Mr. Halo... what till he comes in and sees his thread...

Hey, at least we're not off topic we ARE talking about big cats in the UK

This is true!

Though I do agree that they probaly should be rounded up before they become a rather large problem =\ I know the UK isn't that big... Heck, I think the state of Washington is bigger...

um...I'm not sure about that...although it...could be

The UK does have more than enough countryside to have them running around though, without much chance of them bumping into a human Currently, they've only been known to attack livestock, so far as I know.

*nods* and hopefully the population will keep itself regulated to the area so it won't become a problem. Which it seems to be doing a fairly good job at!

Well, they're probably far too few in number, and spread out, to possibly have anything closely resembling a stable population. A vast majority of them will be very much alone, and then they die, there won't be anymore in that area. The few that might manage to find each other and mate won't really make a difference...two big cats wandering around the countryside with a few cubs at home isn't that different from one.

There's that and compatibility issues. I'm not even sure if two different feline family level cats can breed...

Cougars are felis... jaguars and leopards are panthera... But even so... maybe.. ROFL amazing how detailed the mind gets at 5:30 am on no sleep...

I think they could likely breed together...there's just no gurantee the young would be fertile. I can't say I know too much about cats

I know enough people think i'm obsessed.. but really.. I liked studying biology... it came easier to me then math.. LOL

That was the other thing I was thinking as I hit reply..and got distracted. LOL

i think they would be more likely to just be hunted down and shot...

what you done to my thread, ah well i started it ages ago anyway, and nobody posted any evidence anyway

They probably aren't.



Actually, it's the process/science of discovering new species.



Yes, they can interbreed and produce sterile offspring (pic of cougar/leopard cross below).

Here's some great info on proven feral specimens!

http://www.bigcats.org/abc/photoalbum/cannich.html

Oh look.. it's stuffed..

*grumbles*

Yes, Panth, as I said, I had hit reply when the steril cubs popped into my poor sleeped depraved mind. *grins* And Sera pointed it out quickly so I went and agreed with it. lol

I remember my dad saying that during the war armies used big cats like panthers as their mascots. When the war was over the cats were just turned loose.

thats sounds very plausible, i mean if you don't need them anymore or can't keep them, what else are meant to do with them, other than let them go...