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?

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/big-cats-live-among-dont-8290323

Thank you Mummy

My ancient ipad can't seem to cope with that website but I'll see if I can read it on my other computer tomorrow

I was thinking about this thread and how I'd really love to have a Mumsnet trip to look for mythical creatures....not sure I cba to try organising it. Though worst case case scenario, I'd be booked into a spa hotel alone, which sounds fine!

I always think of those documentary camera crews who go to the area where they KNOW a certain breed of big cat lives and set ups stake out with the sole purpose of getting footage, and it still takes weeks or even months to get a decent shot of them...

The body proportions, particularly the tail length relative to body length, give most of these photos away as domestic cats. The picture in Mummy’s post is a prime example.

Agree. How on earth anyone could look at the picture on MummytoA's post and see a big cat is beyond me.

Pretty much all the pics I see online look domestic.

I think they can especially in Scotland. We once saw a puma, clear as day, run across the road in front of us at about 5pm in the evening (it was summer so still light out). A whole car of us saw it too, but it was before the days of mobile phones etc so we didn't get a picture. It was definitely a puma, and the friends we were with were American and so had seen "mountain lions" and said that that's what it was. This was about 20 years ago though

They now have DNA evidence that there is a big cat in Gloucestershire

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/dna-british-panther-countryside/?fbclid=IwAR3i0UPxQ3AAe58r-F9tYUHwz0QbRuzk9_MYz1diSiTr5NJNx7a6QKpnE28

Emotional thanks so much for updating, I completely missed this.

I wonder where the animal concerned is living?

Oh dear. Nice to know that big cats can exist beside ourselves. But I wish that it had not been made public, all those big billly bollock years will be out hunting the poor animals now it seems definite that the
cats are there.
Local yobs have devastated the local swan colonies and their eggs/cygnets. Not even for food, but just because they can.

Alphabet oh dear
i hadn't thought of that.

but hopefully a big cat will intimidate them more?

You’d think there would have been sightings of half- or mostly-eaten eaten sheep or deer. I’ve once seen lions asleep with bloated stomachs around the carcass of a large antelope - virtually all they’d eaten was its innards. Even very big cats won’t necessarily scoff the whole thing straight off.

I doubt it. They hunt big game such as lions and elephants. A British puma will just be another trophy to them.
Even if the cat fought back and ended up wounding them, there would be call for the animal to be shot for human safety- forget the fact that animal was being hunted in the first place by humans. Look at land owners bleating about the reintroduction of beavers - a much smaller animal.

Now I'm wishing they'd stayed in our imaginations.

it would be so depressing for trophy hunters to get on to this...I was thinking more of general trouble makers.

It would be nice if someone could dart it but I would rather it doesn’t survive if not. It could kill a small child.

(Still very unconvinced there’s anything out there)

Gosh. I don't know how I have missed that report. Interesting that it doesn't appear to (as yet) be being reported widely. Might have a watch of the documentary tonight!

Why would you do that? Why kill this animal? It's not bothering anyone. They've clearly been here for decades and no one has been hurt/killed.

It's attitudes like yours that make me sad that we now know they exist. All the trophy hunters/hooray Henry's will capitalise on your pearl clutching attitude as an excuse to kill these rare and beautiful animals. These cats don't want to be near humans and frankly who can blame them?

startrek agree
I ignored that comment initially because it just made me ragey.

I am definitely not a trophy hunter but if there was a large predator lurking out there I would prefer it to be darted and caught rather than it kill a person. If it couldn’t be darted for any reason, then shooting it would be the least bad option.
Unless you are vegan, and do not wear leather, do not use medicine etc then animals have been killed for you.
The kindest man I knew once shot a dog because it was going for his livestock and he tried to catch it in his car but it went for him so he shot it. Still upset him talking about it with me decades later but it was him or the dog. That isn’t trophy hunting.

But these animals haven't hurt anybody, so why kill them? They aren't a threat. These sightings have been going on for decades and these animals have been around for decades and as far as we know no one has been hurt or killed, let alone a child. Stop pearl clutching.

There's a vast difference between killing an animal that is actually posing a threat as opposed to an animal that hasn't done anything but just looks scary. Darting (or killing but you just want to make it sound nicer) these cats who have done nothing is not protecting anything it's just being cruel.

You miss understand what I mean by darting. Darting (with tranquilliser) so the animal - if it exists - could be taken to a wildlife centre.

As for ‘pearl clutching’ - I don’t like pearls as I don’t like the way pearls are harvested.

We do live rurally though and walk in secluded countryside. To be fair, big cats would probably go for people’s dogs and cats before a child, but they do regularly kill small children around the world. I certainly wouldn’t want my children walking around unattended if I knew a big cat like a leopard was on the loose. A big cat would see a child as prey and an opportunity for dinner. Google ‘leopard kills child’. If there were big cats like leopards loose in this country, you could never say they would not be a threat. England is too populated for them never to be a risk to humans.

But they have been here apparently for decades and nothing has happened. I lived in the area where there have been sightings and just recently confirmed that a leopard is here. It's fine honestly. These cats don't want to be around us.

I guess that I just don't see why we should remove an animal from its home and cage it, when it has done nothing and is not threatening anyone, just because some humans say so.

By your logic there should be reports of children being eaten/attacked in the UK a lot. There aren't. In fact a child is more likely to be attacked by a domesticated cat than a big one. Let's just think of the children shall we?Foxes, wolves and boars as well. In fact let's just get rid of all wild animals just in case your darling little Johnny wants to go for a walk in the woods.

These animals pose no threat to us. I have seen a big cat in the Gloucestershire area. I wouldn't have believed what I saw had it not been for the fact I was with other people who say they the same thing. This cat was wandering around the woodland area and was absolutely not interested in us in anyway. For years I thought I was mistaken, turns out I wasn't. According to these tests done big cats tend to go for game animals like deer, boar and on occasion will take the odd sheep. (Incidentally the cat I saw seemed to be eyeing up the sheep that were grazing close to the woodland area)

I also understand that these big cats tend to be nocturnal/be most active sunset or sunrise, so unless your darling Johnny regularly wanders alone in the deep of night in the forest he should probably be ok. So maybe we don't need to rush in to kidnap/kill these creatures. They have just as much right to live their lives peacefully as we do. One of the things I despise most in humans is the refusal to even attempt to live with other creatures. I don't particularly like cats but I do my best to live with them. Anything else is just being, well, a bit if a dick really.

It's already started hasn't it? There's going to be a campaign to get rid of these animals regardless of the fact that they haven't attacked/hurt/killed or even threatened anyone.

I think you need to wake up and realise we SHARE this planet with other animals, we don’t own it. Where exactly do you want all dangerous animals relocated to so that they’re nowhere near people? You’ll find most of their natural habitats have been taken over by the plague called humans.