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| In your opinion what are alien big cats most likely to be? |
| Escapees from collections, breeding in the UK countryside |
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43% |
[ 27 ] |
| A species of endemic British big cat somehow overlooked by science |
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4% |
[ 3 ] |
| Zooform Phenomena - animal-shaped manifestations of paranormal activity |
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8% |
[ 5 ] |
| Misidentifications of big dogs, normal cats etc |
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16% |
[ 10 ] |
| A big hoax |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Summat else |
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3% |
[ 2 ] |
| All of the above |
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24% |
[ 15 ] |
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| Total Votes : 62 |
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PaulTaylor Yeti Joined: 27 Jan 2013 Total posts: 79 Gender: Unknown |
 Posted: 26-02-2013 23:17 Post subject: |
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| Mythopoeika wrote: | | oldrover wrote: | | Quote: | | Or, of course, sheep could just be thick! |
An intriguing thought there. |
It's just woolly-headed thinking. |
Yeah, I thought of it on the hoof. It's shear stupidity! |
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| titch4 Yeti Joined: 17 Feb 2013 Total posts: 33 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 27-02-2013 11:10 Post subject: |
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/dons bad pun proof hat...but are sheep really that easily spooked? when i was about 8 or 9 the family had rented a farm house on mull and one day i was walking along the cliffs looking for the path to the beach, and i got stalked by a sheep, it walked alongside me and i was terrified the sheep would charge me and knock me over the cliff. Maybe the sheep on the west coast of scotland are of different character, maybe fighting the midgies for survival every day makes them much tougher and harder then normal sheep.
Eve seen the cat stalking the sheep in an area they knew well for a long period of time, and would have the sheep to judge size against, as i said before i am sceptical on the whole, but some eye witness accounts make me wonder. |
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| PaulTaylor Yeti Joined: 27 Jan 2013 Total posts: 79 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 27-02-2013 20:16 Post subject: |
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| titch4 wrote: | | /dons bad pun proof hat...but are sheep really that easily spooked? when i was about 8 or 9 the family had rented a farm house on mull and one day i was walking along the cliffs looking for the path to the beach, and i got stalked by a sheep, it walked alongside me and i was terrified the sheep would charge me and knock me over the cliff. Maybe the sheep on the west coast of scotland are of different character, maybe fighting the midgies for survival every day makes them much tougher and harder then normal sheep. |
Well, they always run away from me when I'm creeping up on them. Perhaps it's just the pretty sheep that are easily spooked. 
The behaviour of the sheep on Mull is easily accounted for. The midgies drain the blood from the sheep so much they crave blood. So the one you encountered wasn't attempting to push you over the cliff at all. She was merely a vampire sheep after your blood.
| titch4 wrote: | | Eve seen the cat stalking the sheep in an area they knew well for a long period of time, and would have the sheep to judge size against, as i said before i am sceptical on the whole, but some eye witness accounts make me |
It's hard to find a clear chink in so well observed and described a sighting, and it's just such sightings that keep many seemingly unlikely phenomena alive for me, rather than poor photography and tabloid hysteria, which put me right off. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 02-03-2013 00:18 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Sighting of 'panther' in Norwich sparks police tweet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-21628555
Staff at Norwich Camping and Caravan Club believed they had seen a big cat, "possibly a panther"
An alleged sighting of a large cat, "possibly a panther", in Norwich has sparked an unusual appeal by police.
Staff at Norwich Camping and Caravan Club spotted what looked like a large black cat near Martineau Lane on the outer ring road on Wednesday.
They called police after a worker also found a dead muntjac deer nearby.
The Twitter account @NorwichPoliceUK stated "we had a report of a large cat, possibly a panther prowling around... anyone see anything similar?!"
A police spokeswoman said police community support officers had taken to Twitter after a failed attempt to find the animal.
The mystery creature has not shown up again.
Norfolk Police are not strangers to reports of big cat sightings, with about 80 calls in the past seven years - mostly in rural areas.
But each time the fearsome predator has either vanished when police arrive, or turned out to be something much smaller - and cuddlier.
A "tiger" lying between two cars in Norwich in 2011 and a "very large striped cat" resembling a tiger in Bradwell in 2010 were, in fact, stuffed toys.
In August last year, holidaymakers believed they had seen a lion on the sun-drenched plains of St Osyth near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex.
Experts from Colchester Zoo and police firearms officers helped in the search.
It was simply a large domestic cat, Teddy Bear, basking in the sunshine. |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13303 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 02-03-2013 23:11 Post subject: |
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| So if there was nothing there, did they find out what killed the deer? |
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| oldrover Great Old One Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Total posts: 2106 Location: Wales Gender: Male |
| Posted: 03-03-2013 01:40 Post subject: |
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| Complacency. |
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| Fats_Tuesday Great Old One Joined: 05 Sep 2001 Total posts: 518 Location: London Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-04-2013 10:57 Post subject: |
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10017038/How-a-big-cat-roamed-Britain-a-century-ago.html
| Quote: | How a big cat roamed Britain a century ago
A predatory lynx more than twice the size of a domestic moggie prowled the
British countryside a century ago, researchers have discovered.
The stuffed remains of a Canadian lynx have been found in the cellar of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and records show it was shot dead in the Devon countryside in the early 1900s after it killed two dogs.
A new study has proved the carnivorous Canadian lynx roamed here at the turn of the 19th century after the beast's remains were unearthed in the vaults of a museum.
A team of scientists from four leading British universities said the find is the
earliest example of an "alien big cat" in the country. They analysed the creature's skeleton and mounted skin to uncover "concrete evidence" that exotic big cats lived here earlier than previously thought.
They argued their study disproves a popular claim that wild cats only appeared following the introduction of the 1976 Wild Animals Act, which was introduced to deal with an increasing fashion for exotic and potentially dangerous pets. But the academics believe such feral "British big cats" may have lived in the wild much earlier, through escapes and even deliberate release.
There is no evidence that such animals have bred in the wild. The new theory follows the rediscovery of the mystery animal in an underground storeroom at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
Records have disclosed the lynx was shot by a landowner in the Devon countryside in the early 1900s, after it killed two dogs.
In the laboratory, tests on the specimen's bones and teeth showed it had been kept in captivity long enough to develop severe tooth loss and plaque.
It then escaped or was deliberately released into the wild, the team say. Ancient DNA analysis of hair from the lynx proved inconclusive, possibly due to chemicals applied to the pelt during taxidermy.
Co-author Dr Darren Naish, from the University of Southampton, said: "There have been enough sightings of exotic big cats which substantially pre-date 1976 to cast doubt on the idea that one piece of legislation made in 1976 explains all releases of these animals in the UK.
"It seems more likely that escapes and releases have occurred throughout
history, and that this continual presence of aliens explains the 'British big
cat' phenomenon."
Experts from Southampton, Durham, Bristol, and Aberystwyth universities also contributed to the study, published in the journal Historical Biology.
In 1903, Edwardian curators originally mislabelled it as a Eurasian lynx - a
close relative of the Canadian lynx.
Lead researcher Dr Ross Barnett, of Durham University's Department of
Archaeology, said: "This Edwardian feral lynx provides concrete evidence that although rare, exotic felids have occasionally been part of British fauna for more than a century.
"The animal remains are significant in representing the first historic big cat
from Britain."
The researchers say Eurasian lynxes existed in the wild in Britain many hundreds of years ago but were almost certainly extinct by the 7th century.
Dr Greger Larson, a member of the research team from Durham University and an expert in the migration of animals, said: "Every few years there is another claim that big cats are living wild in Britain, but none of these claims have been substantiated.
"It seems that big cats are to England what the Loch Ness Monster is to
Scotland."
The lynx is now on public display at Bristol Museum. |
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| Fats_Tuesday Great Old One Joined: 05 Sep 2001 Total posts: 518 Location: London Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 26-04-2013 13:32 Post subject: |
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22284463
| Quote: | Big cat hunter: 'Every week I get reports'
Scientists have revealed that a Canadian lynx was on the loose in England at the turn of the last century.
For decades people have claimed to have spotted big cats roaming the British countryside - including reports of a lion on the loose in Essex in 2012.
But most of these claims are dismissed by experts as mistakes, hoaxes or even hallucinations.
Jonathan McGowan, a naturalist from Bournemouth, is one of those who believes that there are big cats living alongside our native species - and has been collecting evidence for 12 years in an attempt to prove it.
His fascination was sparked by a sighting of what he claims was a puma, in 1984. Since then he has amassed a variety of fur samples, footprints and bones that he believes could have come from big cats - but conclusive photographic evidence remains hard to come by.
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| Eponastill Great Old One Joined: 02 Aug 2002 Total posts: 225 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 22-05-2013 07:55 Post subject: George Monbiot article on ABCs |
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In the Guardian this morning:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/21/big-cat-sightings-mass-hysteria
I like the part where he's describing investigators revisiting sighting spots with measuring poles and rather proving the sightings were of moggies.
But I do want to believe anyway somehow. Such is human nature eh. |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 22-05-2013 08:13 Post subject: Re: George Monbiot article on ABCs |
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Georgie boy has a new book to punt. According to the Guardian bookshop:
| Quote: | Feral: Searching for enchantment on the frontiers of rewilding
By George Monbiot.
Trade review
The renowned political commentator and radical thinker Monbiot here envisages a wholly new way of understanding our world, through positive environmentalism. He recounts his own experiences with wild places, wildlife and wild people, and argues that humans should draw closer to the natural world, in which ecological processes resume.
Synopsis
Tells the story of author's efforts to re-engage with nature and discover a new way of living. This title shows how, by restoring and rewilding our damaged ecosystems on land and at sea, we can bring wonder back into our lives. |
But, why shouldn't 'Moonbat' take on ABCs? After all, he's an instant expert on everything. The book's due out on the 30th of May.
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| Spookdaddy Cuckoo Joined: 24 May 2006 Total posts: 3834 Location: Midwich Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 22-05-2013 09:40 Post subject: Re: George Monbiot article on ABCs |
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| Eponastill wrote: | | ...I like the part where he's describing investigators revisiting sighting spots with measuring poles and rather proving the sightings were of moggies... |
There used to be a video on YouTube of a 'panther' wandering across a track - it walked straight past one of those surveying poles which are marked out in standard increments.
Massive fail. |
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| lordmongrove Great Old One Joined: 30 May 2009 Total posts: 792 Location: Exeter Age: 43 Gender: Male |
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| maximus_otter Recovering policeman
Great Old One Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Total posts: 238 Location: You don't have the "Need to Know." Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-07-2013 16:37 Post subject: Aristocrat warns visitors as 'big cat' snapped on his land |
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An aristocrat has put up warning signs for visitors to his estate after a member of his staff photographed a “big cat” prowling through the grounds.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02627/big-cat-homepage_2627212b.jpg
Baronet Sir Benjamin Slade believes that the creature has already killed foxes, an otter and some of his chickens, and he fears that it could go on to attack his prized pedigree sheep, a dog or even a guest.
The “beast” was photographed by the night porter at the 98-acre Maunsel House estate, near Bridgwater in Somerset, in the early hours of the morning about a fortnight ago.
The pictures are blurred but appear to show a large black animal with powerful haunches walking through a meadow of tall grass and wildflowers.
Sir Benjamin, 67, suggested that the creature might live on the nearby Somerset Levels and travel to his grounds overnight looking for food.
In recent months he and his staff have found piles of feathers from dead chickens and the mangled remains of a fox.
He is convinced that the picture shows a big cat, but admitted that it is not entirely clear.
He said: “They don’t exactly stand still and pose, which is the problem. It’s got a long tail and seemed to be quite big.
“Apparently these things will do 30 to 40 miles in a night. We are next to the Somerset Levels, which are 250 miles of fields and bogs where nobody lives.
“There is a possibility that this thing is bigger than a puma – it is probably quite frightening.
“We have put signs up telling people to keep their dogs in the car because there is a big cat about.
“We need this thing out of the way before it eats somebody. I’ve got a wedding business here and we are very worried about our guests – they might wander off piste and get gobbled up.”
Sir Benjamin said hunters up and down the country had contacted him asking if they could come to his estate to look for the cat.
“I might be able to sell the shooting rights if it goes on like this,” he jokes.
The next time a dead chicken or fox is found, he plans to take samples of hair and droppings from the scene and send them off for DNA analysis.
Danny Bamping, founder of the British Big Cats Society, said it was impossible to tell what the photograph shows.
“Like most pictures of big cats in Britain, it is inconclusive because there is no sense of scale and it is blurry,” he said.
“However, that is not to say that the person who took the picture did not think it was a big cat at the time.”
He noted that there have been a “substantial” number of reported sightings of big cats in Somerset in the past year.
The existence of big cats in the British countryside has been debated for decades. Most of the alleged sightings have come since the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976 made it illegal to keep untamed pets.
Some experts have suggested that this led to owners of exotic cats, such as pumas or lynx, simply releasing their animals into the countryside.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10202296/Aristocrat-warns-visitors-after-big-cat-photographed-on-his-estate.html
maximus otter |
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| staticgirl Following my fish Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Total posts: 463 Location: Hertfordshire Age: 40 Gender: Female |
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