Big cat sightings - Do you believe in them or have you seen any?

[Unknown2020]

So I’m fully prepared I may get told I’m crazy...

I live rurally, think fields backing onto each other, forests etc..

One day a few years back I was driving down a quiet country lane and in the distance I saw something black creeping along in the field amongst the corn growing. I actually came to a stop in a little lay by and watched thinking maybe it was a lost dog (nothing else about for miles, and not a typical walking area) On further watching it was definitely not a dog, it was like a cat but much bigger/longer and with a long tail and it moved about like a cat.

I mentioned it to a family member at the time and they said they were sure many years ago of seeing a puma that ran across in front of there car. Again too big to be a cat/too big to be a dog but moved like a cat.

Has anyone else actually spotted anything like this in the UK?

Coming out of miles of woods one day, there was a big black cat opposite the lane I was driving out of, bloody huge thing with that typical tail carriage big cats have. This was at least 10 years ago, in Herts. A year or so later, a bloke came running onto the yard where I kept my horse saying he had been up a ladder and had seen a big black cat lying along a branch of a tree at the back of the field. Naturally, we all trekked across to see if we could find it. Fortunately, we couldn’t!

Most single big cats won't attack horses. They'll take smaller stuff like sheep and deer.

There's enough wild places in the UK for them to survive. Think of the moors/Dales and wooded areas.

theguardian.com/global/2019/apr/14/britains-big-cats-are-pumas-running-wild-or-is-it-our-imagination

Oh I definitely believe that big cats are here. I live rurally and have open fields, whenever I look out the window I half hope for one to stroll across!

Never seen one, my mother has - a lynx type.

would have been 1993...I was in the back of the car with the baby! Dh and dad in the front, dh driving, mum was behind dh

down a scottish dual carriage way and saw a large black creature "proinking" "pouncing" through long barley/hay at the far edge of the field, it was most certainly not moving like a dog would in that same field of crops

we've always had dogs and cats and it was moving in a most definitely cat fashion.

I can't remember who said it but one of us said "did you see that?" and the other just nodded. DH and my ma never saw a thing!

I’ve seen a black one, dh saw a sandy one as did my dad in separate areas of the UK.

Our cat came in one night like the devil was chasing him, growling like mad and checking all the windows looking for something. We always wondered if he’d seen what I’d seen. He was completely out of his mind with fear.

Back in probably 2002/2003 I had an afternoon off from sixth form and went on a long ride on my horse, miles out of the village and across farmland. Lived in rural Lincolnshire at the time.

My horse suddenly stopped dead from a decent canter, then started snorting and backing up. We were on a bridlepath miles from a road or anywhere walkers would get to easily so I couldn’t work it out, until a massive black cat casually strolled out of the woods to our left, stopped and stared at us for a few minutes and then hopped over the stone wall into the field (of sheep) to our right. After it had gone we turned around and my lovely horse, bless her, was so spooked she maintained a very impressive speed until we were back in civilisation again.

I did have a mobile phone back then, but obviously decent camera phones weren’t a thing. I do often wonder if that happened now, with our habit of recording everything in pictures, would I have had the presence of mind to catch it on camera?

Honestly, this thing was bigger than a Labrador.

I saw something very odd last year, early December, in a country lane just outside Canterbury. It was about 9.30/45pm, I’d just picked my DD15 up from playing at the cathedral and we were driving home. It was dark but it was a clear, dry night so visibility was good. The lane, very familiar to us, we use it all the time, runs through farm land with a hedge on one side and woods on the other. Something ran out of the hedge up ahead of the car, so perfectly visible in the headlights, but far enough that I didn’t need to brake, and into the woods on the other side. It was light in colour, sort of sandy, ran like a cat moves and had a thick heavy tail. I exclaimed Oh my God what was that? and DD said Yes I saw that too. We both agreed it was definitely not a fox, we know what they look like , we’ve got a fox Earth in the garden and see them constantly. We also agreed it was definitely a cat, but it was just way too big for a domestic ginger. We did wonder if it could be someone’s Bengal or something, no idea how big they get, but in the fleeting moment it didn’t appear to have markings. With hindsight we both agreed the thing most like what we saw, is a cougar or mountain lion. Neither of us are prone to exaggeration, flights of fancy or conspiracy theories, no idea what we really saw but it wasn’t an ordinary moggie, I’m certain.

Me too! About 5 years ago. I also live rurally. I was driving home in broad daylight, passing fields and a very large (too large to be domestic) black cat was stalking around the edge of the field. It was so big, that's what caught my eye.
I'm not the only one around here to have seen it (Essex/Suffolk border). I wish I'd stopped to take a photo, but there were cars behind me and nowhere to stop.

Our old neighbour had a pile of sand in his driveway and actually found a couple of large paw prints in it. He had photos but also managed to get a plaster mold? of one of them which I saw.
My mum around about the same time (late 90s) saw a black cat about the size of a Labrador run across her path while she was running in the woods alone one day. I don't think she ran that way for a good while after. This was in the Highlands.

I expect some existed in the wild for a while. All the idiots chucked them out when it became illegal to keep them as pets.

I'm a regular reader of the Fortean Times where these beasties are known as Anomalous Big Cats (ABCs). It's my impression that there has been a marked dropping off of reports of them over the years after the explosion following the period when The Beast of Bodmin Moor captured the public imagination.

Part of the downturn is I suspect because everyone has mobile phones these days and the photos taken of the gigantic moggies turn out to be a lot less impressive in the cold light of day.

I saw one in the late 90’s. It ran across the road in front of my car (wish I’d had a dash cam back then), by the time I got home I thought I was being daft and just letting my imagination go wild but then I did I bit of research and apparently sighting were quite common in our area

Yes, saw it in a field, walking across towards a copse at the bottom end of the field. I was driving on a lane. I stopped the car and watched it. Very clear view, pretty close. It was a huge cat. Not a domestic cat. Black, very long curled tail, powerful shoulders, cat walk. Not a dog, nothing like a dog. I was really shocked. I have cats and I think it was 4 or 5 x the size of our large tom cat at least. It was exactly like this photo. A couple came into the field at the top end and it immediately shot off and jumped a fence into the copse. Near Trimdon in County Durham. I will never forget it. Totally unexpected and quite breathtaking but I was glad I was in the car. I was quite shakey.

However the uk is small. How could such large exotic cats live undetected for 30 odd years? And how could they mate if its one or two exotic releases?

I think they can cover a lot of ground, and can probably detect each other from a long way off.
I watched a programme about panthers a few years ago, I think it was specifically black panthers. Apparently they are very good at keeping themselves hidden. They caught footage of them in cities just a few meters from people going about their business none the wiser.
Also, if I remember correctly, they tend to hunt smaller animals. So I think they could live quite successfully in our countryside. Finding a mate may be trickier I suppose, but not impossible.

I actually thought I saw one the other day, in the woods. Big black shape about 100 yards away, walking through the trees. Couldn't see anyone else around. Turns out it was a large black dog with a long rounded tail. It was old so it was walking quite far behind its owner 😂

@LuluJakey1

I got an absolute shudder when I read your post.

The cat I saw was near Castle Eden which is basically next door to Trimdon.

Jesus.

Not me but a friend, saw a large black puma/lynx cat walk across her driveway while she was in the house. She reported it and a policeman came out to take a statement, I think he was investigating it himself as a sideline as they’d had lots of sightings. This must have been late 90’s early 2000, in Oxshott, Surrey.

@QuestionableMouse @LuluJakey1
I live right near castle Eden!! Didn't even cross my mind there would big cats in the UK never mind up north!!

I'm in the same general area but a bit more north. Creepy as hell

I'm surrounded by fields and usually take my dog out for a pee about ten. I think I'll stay in the garden tonight 😂😂😂

@QuestionableMouse haha I usually walk
my dog up castle eden the most I've seen is a dear!! think I'll de route after hearing about these big cats

How could such large exotic cats live undetected for 30 odd years?
Well they’re not undetected are they? We’ve all seen them 😂

We were driving along at dusk a while back when I saw a male lion with a big shaggy mane walking along the side of the road. I absolutely screamed my head off until DH pointed out that it was a German Shepherd. I need to wear my glasses more. And also dampen my overactive imagination

@QuestionableMouse That's a bit of a co-incidence! I would never have expected to see one and I don't care if people think I am mad - I know what I saw, where it was, where I was and I watched it for a couple of minutes. It was amazing but scarey.

I grew up near a huge nature park / cycle path, in the 80s /90s there you practically couldn't cycle through without seeing a large cat it seemed.
Don't hear so much of them now, I assume they struggled to mate successfully.
I guess big cats were being released in the 80s / 90s and are dying off now?