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 see deer pretty often, and badgers are visible dead in the roads. There is also physical evidence of badgers (setts, tracks, scratches) all over the place.

Maybe there are one or two but I think these stories are got up and recycled by the hacks trying to fill space

Emma - it wasn't me that saw it, but i drew it for the OP from her description and posted it on the thread. OP revealed the location and it turned out i only live 5 mins up the road from it!

It was a very funny thread.

For info: The story ended up in a couple of our local news paper websites and on an American ''strange stories'' type site complete with my drawing! 😳

I love a mystery as well

@EmmaEmerald why would you think i'm not sure?

just reread my post 🤣🤣

😂😂😂

Grow yes, there was one on a campsite that clearly happened in a slow news week one summer...many years ago...if you can remember as far back as a slow news week. I miss those days!

Laiste oh no, you should have been paid for your drawimg., and the lady for her story.

I've seen a wallaby myself and there is a wild colony in Herts. There are also lots of parakeets where I live. Beautiful.

Oh wow, do you know whereabouts in Herts please?

I see parakeets fairly often in London.

@EmmaEmerald Near Hertford. A friend got some lovely pictures of them. I saw one in a village nearby in a field. I was with somebody otherwise I'm sure nobody would have believed me. But there it was!

Two Glasgow parks have wild colonies of parakeets.

Thanks, I might have to go there for a wander!

Looked it up
they don't look that big, sorry!

I suppose it’s possible. But I had my old feral tomcat mistaken for a panther, admittedly he was big, and the angle at which the person was looking at him from, made him look even bigger. But he was definitely just a large, black tomcat enjoying the sun in my garden.

I saw something which I’m sure was a large cat in the early 2000’s, so around 20 years ago now.

We were driving back from Bolton Abbey to Leeds and got a little lost. We ended up driving on a country lane surrounded by moors type fields, all very desolate with no houses around and no other cars on the road.

It was dark and suddenly in the road ahead I saw a pair of glinting eye’s. I shouted at my husband to watch out, there was an animal in the road and pointed in the direction of where the eye’s were. He swerved the car over to the right and we passed the animal at my side of the car.

I am positive this was a big cat, it’s head was level to my head when passing. We were in a regular hatchback car, so that will give you an idea of its how tall it was.

I wanted to stop the car and get out to but my husband said no chance and carried on driving. I wonder to this day what it was.

Crystal "it’s head was level to my head when passing"

blimey! I would have stopped the car.

Our neighbour had just that happening for 3 years sometime before covid. Couldn't work out what the hell was taking his lambs - not badgers or foxes - they have their own style, but stripping the carcasses quite effectively. Took lots of photographs of the remains but didn't want the field becoming of interest to people. Tried trail cameras but it was a big field and couldn't cover it all. Whatever it was didn't upset the sheep, as he stayed up with night vision goggles and a gun, and even if he'd fallen asleep, panicked sheep & lambs are loud. My brother managed to get a photo of it, but typically in the distance and blurred - it was right across the track nose to tail, so pretty bloody big whatever it was. Seems to have gone/died now.

We landed on a farmers airstrip in bodmin, in the noughties. My husband wanted to get some more flying time in and fuel up and I wanted to explore a bit, so he went off and would pick me up 2 hrs later. I hiked off into some woods and came across a small derelict building, I heard something moving in there, then 2 large, pitch black cats with the greenest eyes (twice the size of a german shepherd) slowly came out , kept staring at me and disappeared into the woods.
They really scared me and must have been visibly shaken when I got back to the strip, I got chatting to a couple of farm workers there, told them what I most definitely saw. They told me these sightings went back years, one of them said his grandfather had been bitten by one as a boy.
Anyway I know what I saw, so yes there are large cats, at least in Bodmin.

Worst I've heard of in Europe is boars vandalizing backyards - it's getting to be a frequent problems in many cities. However, back when I was living in Northern Cal you'd get regular stories about mountain lions going after the deer that made a habit of feeding in suburban gardens at night.

It's all about cats being near and far away. There's a good episode on it.
There are some that got out, some released when they got too much and a few let go to avoid the law. As said before, no evidence of breeding pairs from this, but we can't be 100 percent either way.
Don't doubt people have seen them but probably ones released or escaped after being held illegally and a few people getting the near and far away bit wrong.
But if you turned a corner and were facing one....

Wild boars are seriously dangerous. They grow huge and are really agressive. I was chased by one once and just about out run the fat fecker

Clare which show is that please?

Love these stories.

People do get confused re sizes and legal breeds eg this

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/hampstead-heath-big-cat-armed-police-a4450391.html

This is a really interesting thread!

On the subject of remains not being found, I quite often walk on The North Yorkshire Moors and see skulls, bones and skeletons - I have assumed they're sheep but I'm no expert and as people are reporting GSD sizes and sheep are a similar size, I could have walked past a big cat skull and not known - would the average person know that it was the remains of a big cat unless it was obvious (as in not skeletal) to report/collect it and am I just very ignorant on the skeletal remains of animals? 🤷🏼‍♀️

@ClareBlue I am to fat and unfit to outrun a mouse. You’ve either given me a reason to change that or a reason to holiday at home. Most likely will be latter. 🤣

do people have to boar proof gardens/public spaces?

The Helensburgh car video looks like a standard black cat climbing a fence!

I've seen a Scottish wildcat twice, probably the same one as their territories are huge. The difference is we know they are real and have loads of evidence of their existence.

Hang on. How did I not know there was wild wallabies and parakeets living here! Have wasted plenty of time googling pics and now just need to plan a visit :)