Do you believe big cats roam the British countryside?

[purplepoppy]

A regular feature in my local press is some guy claims to have seen a big cat. Occasionally it's accompanied by photo of a blurry black blob or what looks like a pet cat. Bring up the topic down the pub and someone will claim they once saw one.
Yet no one has managed to get any definitive proof and examinations of livestock kills always prove to be dogs or natural scavenging by foxes, crows etc.
Yet the number of sightings are increasing.

My own experience is that animals often appear larger than they actually are if viewed at an angle, and these are just feral cats. But what are your thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Well, I have done a bit of looking into this and it seems to me that it is far more likely to be true than not.

Why?

Well, the most commonly thrown around idea is that in 1976 a new law was brought in which required people who owned dangerous animals to be regulated and inspected and such like and it is said that some owners just released their animals into the wild, indeed there are a number of people who have claimed to have done this even.

This may well be significant on its own as we can be reasonably sure that at least one breeding pair would have entered the wild at the same time, but there is a long history before that which needs to be taken into consideration as well; big cats have been displayed and used for entertainment since at least Roman times and the chances that in all of that time every single owner of a big cat was entirely responsible and never released their cats into the wild is literally zero.

The first reported sighting of a big cat was in 1760 which is possibly a little bit early for circuses, they started coming eng vogue around that same time, they were very popular for quite some time and there were certainly people who had exotic animals before this.

So there is clearly an ample supply of big cats being brought into the country none of which are being regulated, at all, so the question is not one of whetrher or not these animals have been released into the wild, they obviously have been and probably in quite significant numbers, how many is hard to say but an amount required to have a healthy breeding population seems extremely likely to me.

I hope i dont have to point out that people dump regular cats and dogs all the time and the fly tip matresses and all manner of shit so the idea that people wouldn't release big cats into the wild is beyond ridiculous, humans absolutely would certainly do that, people dont give a flying monkey fuck about anything really, certainly not for things they aren't going to get caught doing and you can't even 'get caught' if its not illegal to do it and it wasn't until very recently.

So the only question is whether or not these highly evolved specialist apex stealth predators could survive in a mild climate with large open spaces and ready access to a wild variety of food sources and fresh drinking water which again is a no brainer.

So, yeah, I'm pretty fucking sure that there are some cats out there.

[Opinion Owner]

I meant to add 'undetected' along with the 'stealth predator' bit

[purplepoppy]

There was a spate of big cats being hit by cars when that law was brought in. A few years ago a lynx escaped from a zoo near me and survived for quite a while before they shot it. Despite having easy access to sheep, none were touched but the autopsy showed it had fed well on rabbits.

[Lliam]

That's a cute feral kitty in the photo.

We have bobcats around our area. There are also mountain lions (cougars) in this region but I've never seen sign of them around our house.

Maybe the royals breed big cats on their massive estates so that they can carry on the British tradition of big game hunting on safari. And maybe some of those cats have escaped to more public areas. just kidding

[AmandaYVR]

Well I don't know anything about big cats in the British countryside. But wow that is the best, cutest, picture I have seen in quite some time. Thank you for posting him/her.

I saw a big cat documentary about leopard or something in India. They live in the hillside just above the humans, and come down at night into the town. They eat peoples' guard dogs. So people buy another dog to guard and warn against the big cats. And then the cats eat the next dog. Vicious cycled. Poor doggies.

[DubiousIntentions]

I saw a big cat once. It ate a Big Mac as an appetizer.

Watch where you put that hand lady!

[Guffrus]

My goodness that's a chonky boy!

That is a cat and a half, well I say a cat and a half, its more like 8 cats driving around inside a much larger trojan horse cat.

I have such a bad case of cute aggression right now, its killing me.

Must. Make. Fuss. Of. Something...

[19magic]

I know you have the Scottish bobcat and you have the wildcats they can grow to the size of a large dog sometimes and if it's afraid or angry the fur can tuff out causing it to appear bigger than it is. Combine it with night and not being clear then I say yes there is native big cats in the wild.

[Oigit]

I don't think there is a enough evidence to prove it. Though in a way it's a good thing if they are not. Because stupid people end up doing a lot to cause negative interactions between people and natural predators. I live in north western Colorado. So bears, mountain lions and rattle snakes all live in the same area that I do. But many people can't even fallow simple rules like not taking your trash out at night or putting your trash in a bear proof trash cans.

[J2ohhhhh]

Off course there are big cats. Not even in the countryside, it was almost in the town.. Me mate told once went down to the meadows with the dogs and the wife and saw something big and dark in the distance for a second and the dogs started to chasing it then they disappeared in the woods. And he heard something like a roar, and the dogs run back in a few seconds. And there were several photos in the chronicles as well. How else could you explain all this?

[Red_Arrow]

Probably something they drank at the pub before their walk.

[NotTacocaT6969]

In my area, there were rumors of a panther wandering around.


Everyone dismissed it as a myth until a hunter shot it.


It was a black mountain lion.

[NotTacocaT6969]

A little bit of research says that Britain is home to one species of big cat.

The European wildcat.

[DryGermanGuy]

Big cats, they say? Might as well go fully bonkers and blame it on dinosaurs! 🙄

[DJB72]

The infamous Beast of Bodmin or Dartmoor? I spent a long time living down that way and other than a guy in the town walking two Irish Wolfhounds rarely saw anything bigger than a Collie.

[AviatorTom]

People probably see a domestic / feral Felis catus (cat) off in the distance and mistake it for all kinds of things, including a lion or tiger.

[KostasKouvalis]

I've seen those videos. I don't buy it as there isn't an inch of your country that hasn't been developed by people. Not many places for an animal like that to hide. I personally just think it was a really big stray

[FreyaRed]

Lynxes are 1,2m long and 75cm tall but they are extinct in western Europe. People who see big cats smoke wrong stuff

[NathanDavis]

we do have some of those down here in the streets of Mexico... lol

[exitseven]

I know that cougars have been spotted not too far from where I live. They may roam the British countryside too

[CaptainSmartass]

Not really. Any big cats would be seen, and everyone would be talking about them. It would probably even make the news.

Simples...

[Zolly99999]

Just like big foot or the loc Ness monster...

[leighbee]

No we don't have that in the UK. Where did you get this info from?

[RavVid]

I have seen a cat like animals that was much too big for a feral cat.

[KrakenAttackin]

I don't know but I do know that if you put a cardboard box out, cats if any size will jump into it.

[Fuentes]

You would love to Travel in the California mountains, their is big cats all over and they even have big baby cats you can play with lol

[Pete671]

There is a big hairy pussy outside my window right now,,,

[Staximus]

Every once in a while somebody's illegal pet gets loose

[Iron_Man]

You have to watch out for those mountain lions in England

[EaterPeter]

We had cougars sighting last night. Looked like digitally altered video

[Anonymous]

The only thing good from England is the joy their football (soccer) team gives the fans of the opponent teams since they usually lose

[Andres77]

not enough proof

[Andres77]

Lonely folks looking for attention. Like the country folk in the states that claim Bigfoot walks near their farm but never had any proof

[Wise4myage]

No, they would be seen.

[nawtee_me]

That is a big box…. lol.

[Anonymous]

no i dont