British big cats

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British big cats, also referred to as ABCs, (Alien Big Cats or Anomalous Big Cats,) phantom cats and mystery cats, are supposedly Felidae not native to Britain which inhabit the British countryside. Their existence is unproven and these sightings are often reportedly named as "panthers", "pumas", or "black cats". Many suggestions exist to explain how these animals have come to possibly inhabit Britain, including that they were released after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 came into force, that they are surviving Ice Age fauna, or even that they have a supernatural origin.^{[citation needed]}

Evidence for their existence

First sightings

In the 1760s the great radical writer, William Cobbett recalled in his Rural Rides how, as a boy, he had seen a cat "as big as a middle-sized Spaniel dog" climb into a hollow elm tree in the grounds of the ruined Waverley Abbey near Farnham in Surrey. Later, in New Brunswick, he saw a "lucifee" (North American lynx – Felis lynx canadensis) "and it seemed to me to be just such a cat as I had seen at Waverley."^[1]. Another old report was found by David Walker from The Times in 1827 of a "lynx" being seen.^[2]

Farther back there is a medieval Welsh poem Pa Gwr in the Black Book of Carmarthen which mentions a Cath Palug, meaning "Palug's cat" or "clawing cat", which roamed Anglesey until slain by Cei. In the Welsh Triads, it was the offspring of the monstrous sow Henwen.^[3]

However the first regular sightings of big cats in Britain were in the 1960s, and since then they have been gradually increasing over the past 40 years to the present.^{[citation needed]}

Captures and remains

A Eurasian lynx was shot in summer 1991 near Norwich, Norfolk. It had killed around 15 sheep within two weeks. The story was only reported in 2003, and the lynx is apparently now in the possession (as taxidermy) of a collector in Suffolk. For many years this incident was considered to have been a hoax, particularly by the hunting community, But in March 2006 a police report confirmed that the case was true. It was probably an escapee from a facility in the area that bred animals including Eurasian lynxes.^[4]

Video and photographic evidence

A Eurasian Lynx

Many photographs have been taken of "cats" over the years, nearly all indeterminate, some fakes.^{[citation needed]} In recent years indeterminate evidence has also come from CCTV cameras.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2006 a large black cat was recorded in the countryside of Banff, Aberdeenshire. Footage of the cat was broadcast by the BBC on 24 May 2007.^[5]

Sightings

The research group Big Cats in Britain^[6] publishes reported sightings annually by county. The "top ten" counties or regions of Great Britain between April 2004 and July 2005 were:^[7]

The possible species of British big cats

The world's big cats comprise lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.

• Other Cats: Species that have been noted only occasionally include the leopard cat, which are the size of domestic cats but with leopard-like spots, a clouded leopard, a specialised species from the tropics which was captured after living wild in Kent in 1975, and there are even extraordinary cases of lions being reported in Devon and Somerset.^[8]

A melanistic jaguar, sometimes called a black panther

Reported British Big Cat Sightings

• Cath Palug, Isle of Anglesey, medieval
• The Beast of Pembrokeshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceridigion, Carmarthenshire, numerous reports from 1970s to recent times.
• Beast of Exmoor, Devon and Somerset, 1970s - Present ^[9]
• Beast of Bodmin, Cornwall, 1992 - Present ^[10]
• "Felicity" the Puma, Inverness-shire, 1980 ^[11]
• Surrey Puma, Surrey and Hampshire, 1959 - 1970 ^[12]
• Fen Tiger, Cambridgeshire, 1950s - 1990s ^[13]
• Wrangaton Lion, Devon, 1998 - 1999 ^[14]
• Bucks Beast, Buckinghamshire, 1995^[15] - Present
• The Beast of Basingstoke, a big cat sighted around Basingstoke in the early 1990s, and believed to be a lion or puma.^[16]
• The Beast of Bevendean, a big cat which has mauled dogs in the suburbs of Brighton.^[17]
• Galloway Puma, sighted in Dumfries and Galloway, 1990s to the present.

Government involvement

In 1988, the Ministry of Agriculture took the unusual step of sending in Royal Marines to carry out a massive search for the rumoured Beast of Exmoor after an increase in the number of mysteriously killed livestock, and farmer complaints over subsequent loss of money. Several Marines claimed to have seen the cat fleetingly, but nothing other than a fox was ever found. The Ministry concluded that reports of the Beast were nothing more than mass hysteria.^[18] The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published a list of predatory cats that they know to have escaped in the United Kingdom, although most of these have been recaptured.^[19]

See also

• Phantom cat
• Cryptozoology
• European Wildcat
• Kellas Cat

Further reading

• BCIB Yearbook 2007, Ed. Mark Fraser, CFZ 2008
• Beer, Trevor The Beast of Exmoor: Fact or legend? Countryside Productions 1988
• Brierly, Nigel They stalk by night - the big cats of Exmoor and the South West Yeo Valley Productions 1988
• Francis, Di The Beast of Exmoor and other mystery predators of Britain Johnathan Cape 1993
• Francis, Di Cat Country David and Charles 1982
• Harpur, Merrily Mystery Big Cats Heart of Albion 2006
• Moiser, Chris Mystery Cats of Devon and Cornwall Bossiney Books 2002
• Moiser, Chris Big Cat Mysteries of Somerset Bossiney Books 2005
• Moiser, Chris Mystery Big Cats of Dorset Inspiring Places 2007
• Shuker, Karl Mystery Cats of the World: From Blue Tigers to Exmoor Beasts Robert Hale 1989

References

1. ^ William Cobbett: Rural Rides (1830), p204 in Penguin 2001 edition
2. ^ Inverness Big Cat
3. ^ Arthur and the Porter
4. ^ [1] BBC News
5. ^ [2] 'Big cat' sighting on video, BBC Scotland, 24 May 2007]
6. ^ BCIB
7. ^ BBC Wildlife Magazine, April 2006
8. ^ Dartmoor Lion
9. ^ [3]
10. ^ [4]
11. ^ [5]
12. ^ [6]
13. ^ [7]
14. ^ [8]
15. ^ Bucks Examiner 23rd June 1995
16. ^ It's Basingstoke NOT Boringstoke
17. ^ Beast of Bevendean strikes again (From The Argus)
18. ^ www.ukbigcats.co.uk - The Definitive Guide To UK Big Cats
19. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20061210055808/http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/reports/exotic-cat-escapes.pdf

External links

• Big Cats in Britain Research Group