AIBU to think friend was mistaken about seeing a 'black panther' behind my house?

[HourOrTwo]

So last week friend turned up on my doorstep in a right state, saying she'd just seen a 'black panther' run across road and disappear into field behind my house!! I said it must have been a dog or badger but she no it was definitely a big black cat. She was very upset and shaken (left her bike in road and ran to my house on foot, would not tell me what was wrong until we were inside!)

FYI we live in a rural area, only one other house nearby. Our garden backs onto fields with woods nearby. Road is more of a lane, hardly any traffic.

Friend said she'd cycled round bend in road when big black cat about 5ft long with a long tail ran into road about 10m from her, she braked, cat froze and 'snarled' at her then ran rest of way across. She saw it go through hedge then lost sight of it. She said it sort of 'slunk' across moving low to ground and had a strange shaped head. I can't think of anything else to fit this description, any ideas?

I told her it had to be a big black dog but she was having none of it, insists it was a big cat. Apparently it moved like a cat. She doesn't have any vision problems, she wasn't drunk or anything (I did wonder at first). She does get scared easily though and can be bit hysterical e.g. she is scared of wasps and dogs. She wanted to phone police but I talked her out of it and when DH came home he gave her a lift home.

Thing is DH has taken this seriously!!! He won't let DD (7) play in garden unsupervised, has cut back all bushes around house and won't let me walk DD to school (2-mile walk through fields). He also reported it to police though unsurprisingly they declined to investigate. They said there haven't been any other sightings. DH has been examining garden 'for signs'. Last night he thought he heard 'a big cat coughing' (!!!) when he was standing at end of garden. Naturally he didn't see it.

AIBU to think this is all crazy and my friend must have made a mistake?

To even it up a bit, I've never seen one.

Arf at "astonishing faeces" in that Dorset local press report.

I've never seen one, although I know a fair few people who have (near Dartmoor).

I thought I saw one once when I was younger in the field near my house but it was just my cat. He was large and black anyway and in the mist he looked massive. I'm not saying that people have just seen domestic cats though! I don't know what to think about it, but a lot of people round here seem to regard it as a certainty that there are big cats around.

Listen here to hear Clare Balding sighting a big black cat!

downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/ramblings/ramblings_20140605-1525a.mp3

OP I don't think your Dh is being completely hysterical. One of these big black cats stalked a couple of teenagers in the Forest of Dean a few years ago (not far from Symonds Yat, see earlier post by cutteduppear).

I've not seen one, but my dad has. The police didn't take him seriously, but there were a few further sightings reported in the following weeks. It was about ten years ago, and I've been in interested in the subject ever since, which is why I'm on this thread.

My dad was interviewed by an expert who was investigating these cats. Apparently, sightings are often covered up for safety reasons. Nobody wants public panic, or townies going out to take pot shots at them. As well as the welfare of the cats, there is the welfare of the local population to consider. The big cats have been living in Britain for years, harming very few people, but if we start injuring them that may change. An injured cat is likely to go for the easiest, slowest moving prey it can find - which could be us, could it not?

We definitely have some near us in Gloucestershire. Reliable people I know have seen a light brown puma type cat and I myself found a deer carcass stripped to the bone which the experts have taken away to DNA test but which they believed shows evidence of big cat teeth marks.

But, even after the above, I still have some doubts - why isn't there more definite proof - dead big cats/close up photos etc? Does seem a bit strange.

Townies are usually too busy shooting each other. It's rural folk that like to take potshots at animals

How many do you think there are? I live in a country that has big cats (confirmed) I've never seen one and big cats are in decline all over the world, so it would be odd if they were secretly breeding like rabbits on a small, over populated island. Chances are there are a max of 5, if any. There is at least one, that's not impossible.
Nature is perfect, dead animals rarely stay whole, they are carried off to dens, sets and nests or whatever.

There was one caught in the Highlands in the 80s. It was a puma and was taken to the highland wildlife park where it stayed till it died. It was then stuffed and can be seen in Inverness museum today. So it does happen - but I think breeding populations are probably v unlikely due as population densities are unlikely to be high enough as most animals will be the result of isolated releases.

I don't believe there are any more big cats left in our countryside. The law change that caused some to be released is some time ago, and for the cats to still be existing in the wild is very far fetched when you consider they've had no access to medical attention and would be very unlikely to come across a mate to breed with.

So many 'sightings' but in the age of the smartphone and digital cameras why aren't there any credible, clear photos available?

I wonder what's happened to the OP.

Thats it anyone who not see one (tiptops) can i suggest where to go in somerset. (Mind you be lucky to see one as they shun humans) I know 100000000000% that i saw a black panther. It was ONE metre away from this country girl who seen everything apart from the otter in the wild and the kingfisher. Fact they out there but fact they not interested in humans and hid. You could walk metres from them and not see them. The reason i saw mine is it was eating and was surprised as i came down wind on an area i know well (soft gravel so no noise). We used to walk carefully to see the deer. (No animal was ever disturbed (we carried only water to drink) but just seeing a wild animal as it should be) The jack russell was followed by a man who said which way and i and ex pointed and he went After it. (Local nut). I did pop into police station afterwards and was given a leaflet to keep myself safe due to the cat. (Hence why i say the police know about it). The tail was huge!!!!!!!

where we live in kent sightings of large black cats are very frequent

we actively look for them when going between all the villages en route from MILs back to ours, not seen one yet in 15 years of being in this neck of the woods [disappointed], but loads of people do claim to have seen them. There is a lot of ancient woodland with deer and boar round here - ideal prey for something like that, also very few footpaths etc so largely undisturbed by humans.

Thought I might see you here, Viva!

There's been numerous sightings near where I live, and (I think) DNA testing was done on fur found there, and they conclusively proved that it was one - here

I do believe that there are, (or may have been in the past) large cats living wild in the UK. Approximately twenty years ago I used to keep my horse on a farm in an area where local people had witnessed big cat sightings. The farmer had witnessed a panther twice whilst on his early morning walks, and had some sheep attacked and eaten. The farmer described the sheep as being picked clean by an animal overnight, and he was convinced that dogs or foxes would not be capable of doing this. The farmer invited an expert in big cats from a zoo to come and look at the sheep, and he also suggested that this was likely to be a large cat. I have no reason to think that this man was making it up. Other local people also witnessed seeing a large black cat.

"So many 'sightings' but in the age of the smartphone and digital cameras why aren't there any credible, clear photos available?"

I walk and drive with my phone in my pocket. I regularly see owls and deer but have never managed a snapshot of them because by the time I've got my phone out and the camera is ready to work, the animal has bogged off.

Fascinating that so many people have seen them!

I'm also interested that everyone is saying they aren't dangerous. I grew up in the US where the cougar was native and we were always taught that they will hunt humans if given the chance. So bears = think you're a rival; cougars = think you're food. It's much safer to be consideread a rival than food...(and needs opposite behaviours -- you try to be quiet and no threat to bears, and as scary as possible to cougars). Although I wonder if that could be a social thing transmitted in particular populations, what valid prey is? But I don't think I could kick my indoctrinated fear there. I'd probably keep my kid inside, too...

Regarding so many of them being black. The melanistic colouring in big cats is dominant, so you'd only need a few of the original cats to be black (and I imagine 'pet' panthers were more likely to be interesting colours, like all black) and this could lead to a lot of black in the population.

I'm no expert, but I wouldn't have thought there'd be much chance of getting big cat dna from a carcass - even one with obvions cat-style teeth marks on it. After the cat had finished eating, smaller animals would move in and have their turn - so that any saliva or whatever left by the original predator would be eaten and gone by the time samples could be taken.

Londonrach, you have an interesting nickname for a country girl My dad, who saw one of these cats, is like you in that he knows exactly what he saw and saw it close up. He was raised on a farm, lived in cotswold villages for 40 years, and would never mistake a large cat for anything else. He had never heard of these animals living wild in Britain. He knew what he had seen, but was utterly freaked out.

I know two people in North Yorkshire who had seen a black panther. One was a forestry worker who saw it close up. Another is a farmer who sees lots of wildlife, and saw one crossing a road in front of his car. There was also a hushed up incident of savaged sheep in the field across from us, All very low key, not people who shout about things, and not part of a wave of reports - just something they said. All about 11 years ago.

I used to spend a lot of time as a teenager riding on exmoor... I remember once whilst out by myself, in the woodland (which is eerily dense and quiet, even in summer), seeing something large and dark in the tree up ahead, it had what I assume was a tail hanging down... As we got closer, the thing moved, and crouched, as if about to pounce (all my cats have done the Classic pounce stance)... Pony literally turned tail and bolted back the other way. This pony was literally not phased by anything, and for him to completely bolt off was unheard of. Can't be sure exactly what I saw, but pretty glad I stayed on!

My father, not he sort of person to make stuff up, believed he saw "something" aka the Surrey Puma in the 60's, jumping over the fence at the bottom of our garden onto the common. Our dog was, apparently, scared but determined to go after it, and it took a lot to scare our GSD.

My dad saw one in the early 1990's. Scared him proper. He came home shaking. We live near Dartmoor, where there are lots of sightings.
He's an ex policeman, ex military and as about no-nonsense as you get. If he says he saw a big fucking cat, he saw a big fucking cat...

Hi there, all I know is that myself and my father both saw a very large black cat slinking past a gate in a field near us. It was half way up the gate in terms of height. X

Fascinating

I'd guess the reason people always seem to see black ones is simply that the sandy/more speckled coloured ones are less easy to see in the English Landscape.

And as for why no photos? If faced with a large predator suddenly appearing in front of me on a country road, I think the last thing on my mind would be: "Where's me phone? Hang on puss, before you eat me, let me take a selfie."

Any. Grown up in somerset then due to work moved to a certain city (guess which one). Has just escaped back to the country but not my beloved somerset sadly! Now miss the city but not as much as i missed the country. Nothing beats a spring day and you outside and all the trees with their different greens have their leafs...