Tracker claims UK has population of big cats

[Still Waters 52,547]

Britain's top tracker of big cats says that Britain has a population of leopards and pumas that is breeding and booming.

Rhoda Watkins has spent more than 20 years investigating big cats using her specialist knowledge to monitor their behaviour.

She has now gathered enough evidence to be certain of the presence of these animals in the UK - and claims there is now a healthy breeding population.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/britains-top-big-cat-tracker-claims-uk-has-healthy-leopard-population/ar-BB19UOfZ

[OverSword 56,671]

Nonsense.  All the experts say so.  Obviously she's a nutter.

Okay, just kidding but I'm sure she will get this type of pushback from all the other experts that have denied this over the years.

[RAyMO 5,647]

Strangely for 20 years research and a claim of breeding and booming population the article had not one single supporting photograph, not even a blurry one. 

[AstralHorus 371]

“Arguments from authority carry little weight”
-Carl Sagan

Edited October 12, 2020 by AstralHorus

[Still Waters 52,547]

1 hour ago, RAyMO said:

Strangely for 20 years research and a claim of breeding and booming population the article had not one single supporting photograph, not even a blurry one. 

Perhaps they're keeping that for their documentary.

Quote

Britain's Big Cat Mystery is the world's first and only feature-length documentary exploring the unusual phenomenon of the UK's population of mysterious large cats.

The film reviews newly uncovered and previously lost evidence, including long-forgotten archive footage, as well as exclusive new interviews with key witnesses to the seminal events in the history of the mysterious big cats of Britain, who until now have been unwilling to talk on camera.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/britains-top-big-cat-tracker-claims-uk-has-healthy-leopard-population/ar-BB19UOfZ

 

[Still Waters 52,547]

I've just found this:

 

[Raptor Witness 2,473]

There's a degree of evidence pointing to one of these black panthers roaming around Eastern NC also .... people in the area have reportedly seen a black panther in the area ,and have even taken photos of it. The latest assessment I've seen is that they think it was a big cat that killed this lady. It was reportedly a horribly gruesome scene and a prolonged death for the poor lady.

Something bit and clawed NC teacher to death 6 months ago. Nobody knows what it was - Charlotte Observer AUGUST 07, 2019

 

The haunting case of a 77-year-old school teacher mauled to death by an unknown animal in coastal North Carolina is being taken nationwide in the search for answers.

It’s been six months since Brenda Hamilton was attacked while walking her dogs in Beaufort County, and deputies have yet to figure out what exactly is to blame for her killing.

[Jon the frog 2,427]

A breeding population would give road kill for sure... so nope.

Some exotic pet at large, maybe.

[Nobu 165]

13 hours ago, Still Waters said:

Britain's top tracker of big cats says that Britain has a population of leopards and pumas that is breeding and booming.

Rhoda Watkins has spent more than 20 years investigating big cats using her specialist knowledge to monitor their behaviour.

She has now gathered enough evidence to be certain of the presence of these animals in the UK - and claims there is now a healthy breeding population.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/britains-top-big-cat-tracker-claims-uk-has-healthy-leopard-population/ar-BB19UOfZ

I didn’t click the article. I wonder what the evidence is. Dna from hair would be pretty conclusive.

Large  cats are hard to find but not impossible. I would think someone in the woods with their dog would have run across one by now.

[HandsomeGorilla 6,120]

I'm sure there is. I think I've seen enough this side of the pond to figure there are probably a few big cats over there. Doesn't seem unreasonable at all to me, we have lots of very large bobcats, mountain lions (caught on cam, but not currently recognized as a local species), and further south in Louisiana et al, you have what's most assuredly some other type of panther. My buddy killed a 40lb bobcat a few years ago, but most don't even know they live around here. Same for the mountain lions, they're not SUPPOSED to be here, but they are. There's one clear as a bell through Santee Cooper Park, if you're lucky. 

[HandsomeGorilla 6,120]

Cats are seriously just one of those animals that are smart and slick enough to fly under the radar for this long. If there's anything 'paranormal', it's probably a damn cat. 

[jethrofloyd 3,406]

 

[Matt221 6,166]

i guess i havn't been mouching about at all hours with my dogs in the right place even the places i shouldn't have been i never seen nothing old huge big old feral cats 

[OpeningThe Veil 7]

By coincidence I started a thread on this subject without realising this existed, so I've copied and pasted my own experience across here. Hope that is okay.

At the height of the "beast of Exmoor" period of sightings, my family were on holiday in September in a cottage that was located in a very quiet part of the moor well off the beaten track, in fact down a dead end road about 2 miles. From the very first night we heard strange sounds after dark like a peculiar screeching. It could have been a fox of course, but just didn't sound the same somehow. We were familiar with foxes. Our pet German Shepherd seemed to be very disturbed at night some of the time in that cottage too.

On the first walk around our surroundings the first thing we found was the skeleton of a sheep! It had been there quite some time, yet the open woodland it was in didn't seemed to be used for sheep as there was no other evidence of their local presence. Of course it could have been very old. On another days hike we came through a shallow valley flanked by thick bracken on one side. All of a sudden there was the most disgusting smell pervading the path and right on cue Sheba acted up, growling whilst pointing up at the bracken area. She was completely out of character and never did that. Right in front of us on the path was another sheep with it's throat torn out. It was a very unpleasant sight and looked very fresh. We wondered whether a dog had done it, but it would have had to be a very big one.

A number of years after that holiday I finally encountered that awful smell again - in the big cat house at London zoo. The next time Sheba acted in that strange way was on a walk at Longleat, with the safari park fence nearby.

Towards the end of the holiday we were driving back down the lane leading to our cottage at night in the dark. All of a sudden the car headlights, on full beam, picked up what can only be described as a big black cat crossing the road in front of us. I remember vividly it was sleek and seemingly short coated and had a very long tail. Size wise it was much bigger than our dog. In a second or two it was gone. My mum was driving and I was in the front passenger seat. We both clearly saw it and both said the same thing; puma!  We later discussed it and we were both adamant that it was not a house moggy because it was far too big, too thickset of body and far too high and long. It looked very muscular in build.  

[Jon the frog 2,427]

On 10/13/2020 at 3:34 AM, jethrofloyd said:

 

So many MIAOU !

 

[Seeker-Of-Knowledge 2]

I live in the north of England in a fairly rural area and I know a few people that claim to have seen a 'big cat'. My father has spotted one on two separate occasions in the village where he used to live. Never spotted anything myself but I'm inclined to believe the reports that something is out there.

Humberside Police force actually admitted the existence of at least one big cat loose in East Yorkshire a few years back, but funnily enough that seemed to fly under the radar.

[openozy 3,108]

I was talking to my cousin in the UK and was amazed they have racoons, racoon dogs, feral pigs and other introduced animals sometimes caught over there.It just doesn't seem to have the wilderness to support these animals but it does, so I wouldn't rule out big cats.

[Matt221 6,166]

An old bloke i know who used to be a gamekeeper around staffordshire found a porcupine stuck in the mesh of a bit of pig fencing back in the 70s apparently there were a few living wild i think he may have given it to a zoo