To wonder if big cats really can be roaming the countryside?

[Qantaqa]

Local news this morning reports "scratch marks" in trees in area where big cat sightings taken place over last decade.

I totally get that back in the 70s various big cats were released rather than people comply with the new laws coming in, but 50 years later can they really still be there?

Enough might have adapted to live wildly themselves (I assume many didn't, or died from cars etc), but they don't live 50 years so we must be on a 2nd / 3rd generation - surely mating with cross species? Aren't they quite territorial and solitary? Where do the next gen go when they mature? It's not like there is loads and loads of places they can hang out? Even if we didn't see the cats wouldn't there be more signs of them?

I’m going back a long time, late 80s. I was in a very old building, like a farm building, with that glass that had waves in it you used to get years ago. I saw a large black animal, about the size of a small German Shepherd, jet black, appear from a field and jump the fence. It disappeared into long grass. The movement was cat- like, definitely not a dog and far too big to be a domestic cat.
Could scratch marks on trees be deer antlers though? Rutting time is approaching.

I think it's very likely that there are some large cats running wild but I suspect they are still escaped ones that have been illegally held rather than a breeding colony.

30 years ago? Maybe

Now, with camera phones and quad bikes and drones... I don't think there's anywhere inaccessible enough.

Badgers can leave scratch marks on tree trunks. I've seen them do it on fence posts, and been amazed how high they can reach!

The longer we go without decent footage now everyone has camera phones the less likely it seems. The last bit of film that was touted by the tabloids as definite proof was probably a calf.

pumawatch.co.uk/

If that website is the best ‘proof’ we have of big cat sightings, it’s not exactly convincing, is it? The majority of the ‘sightings’ are a photo of the location of the supposed sighting, with no cat, and a marker on a map, and the photos of big cats are generic, and not the one supposedly seen. The few photos are of poor-quality — dark, distant, small blurs which could be anything.

I really hope there are loads of outsize black cuddlers roaming 🇬🇧.

There's nowhere remote enough and with sufficient prey to support breeding populations.
There's also an absence of proof - such as paw marks, partly eaten prey, or any skeletal remains of dead big cats.
There may occasionally be an escaped individual. I think that the licensing changed in the 1980's maybe which made it harder to keep them and some may have been released then.

Has there ever been remains found? If they live close enough to be spotted surely a skeleton or a skull would have been found at some point

All those saying now we have camera phones this should be proven not to be true really don't understand hiking/outdoorsy people.

We might take a picture of a beautiful view, or from the summit when we reach it, but we're not constantly walking with our phones gripped in hand.

It's usually tucked away in the backpack that's secured with 2-3 different clasps, wearing gloves and potentially carrying poles too.

So in the space it takes us to whip off the backpack, get the screen to recognise finger touch through the gloves and open camera function, the quick flash of 'cat' has long buggered off.

I walk and climb a lot. I’m not glued to my phone, but it wouldn’t take me long to get it out of my inside jacket pocket, and I’ve certainly managed to whip it out sharpish to photograph fairly elusive wildlife in the past.

We are in the Midlands and I remember in the 80s some police vans turned up by a wood near us after a farmer had had repeated attacks on his sheep. The marks on the sheep were deep scratches a dog couldnt do and one was ripped apart. The rumours were it was a big cat without doubt.

I thought there was proof of one in Scotland? Not that long ago. Working now but will try and look it up later.

When the dangerous wild animals act was brought in in the 70s I believe there probably was the occasion wild cat roaming around as people were no longer allowed to keep the as pets and some may have released them rather than deal with the legalities.

I worked as an ecologist in the past and regularly spent my days tracking down tiny mammals and insects. Believe me, if there were giant cats roaming around we would have indisputable evidence!

There could be lots reasons for scratches on trees, maybe deer or humans or any number of other explanations!

I'm a trail runner and I don't run with my phone usually and when I do it takes a while to get it out my flip belt especially if I have cold hands, also I come across "inaccessible" tucked away places all the time! which also have no signal including one where someone lived for years in woods, I'm clearly not too worried about big cats eating me but to say everywhere's accessible and photographable is just silly (lm in SE by the way)

Saw a big black cat about 17 years ago near Eyemouth.. In a field as I drove past.

Never doubt anything now!

Sometimes sightings have turned out just to be a large Maine Coon out mouse-hunting. They can be nearly 30lbs in weight.

Its not that everywhere is instantly photographable. Its that as soon as there's a rumour, then people are attracted with their camera phones and drines and analysis of poo etc.

Take wallabies and parakeets. There is indisputable evidence these live wild in the UK after escaping or being released by private owners.

I saw one (a large black cat) crossing Tamworth road in Coventry, field to field, walking to work (on Tamworth road) around 7.00 a.m in 1996. I was with my ex boyfriend who also saw it.

It categorically was a large black cat, and I was close enough to see the sinews moving in the top of its back legs. I never reported it, because I knew what I saw and I knew many wouldn’t believe it. I have however seen other reports in the same wider area.

I no longer live there, but I walked that road many, many times afterwards and never saw it again.

I did, and still do, walk all over- and have never seen anything unexplained whilst walking since.

I don’t know why, we don’t see corpses etc. I do know they can cover a large geographical area, so by the time you’ve sighted one it’s likely already moved a distance. This could mean that different area sightings, related to the same cat anyway.

I’m also unsure on whether they’re breeding now and what with. I can only say what I saw, nearly 30 years ago.

I’m a hiker and mountaineer.

I can get my phone out and in my hand in about 3 seconds

See I can completely understand not being able to snap a picture. I have on a seen the white stag that lives in the forest three times and twice not had my phone and once he'd gone by the time I got it out. A fourth time I did but the photo of him is so blurry it really could be anything.

Big cats I suspect are reclusive so I totally get not seeing the actual cat, but I don't understand why we'd have no remains of them or what they eat or visible evidence. I don't understand how they have bred.

I want them to be roaming around. I quite like the idea. I definitely believe they were roaming round 20/30 years ago.

Ignore the random "on a" in my sentence there!

A place where I visit for work a few years ago was surrounded by woods, they would hear strange animal noises at night and had unidentifiable animal mess so set up loads of trail cams and found they did have a big cat living in the woods. I can't for the life of me remember what it was but I saw the footage and it was definitely not a domestic cat