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HERE?,,,,,,,,,,,, kitty kitty!!!: |
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ben rigsby Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 No. of posts: 337  View other posts by ben rigsby |
Posted: 29 Jan 2011 hi, PUMA, LYNX, black-phase LEOPARD ETC AT LARGE IN THE UK; one summer night during 1996, on returning from a holiday in Eire, my mum and her sister (farmers daughters - familiar with our native mammal species) told me they had seen a black leopard on the motorway near Tewkesbury. "a bloody great long tail!" they kept enthusing. much to my bemusement. 
a policeman friend of mine also claims to have encountered a black leopard whilst out shooting at nearby Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham. such reports (as you know) are now frequent- esp in southern england. but i dont know what to think. many uk "sightings" will be bollox of course.
black labs/domestic felis etc. ive been to presentations purporting big cat prescence in the uk by the alien big cat society optimists but ive witnessed equally convincing rebutalls by defra - sneeringly poo-pooing the idea as hysteria. im also aware there was an authenticated report of a Norfolk farmer shooting a lynx and refridgerating it in the nineties and that other evidence has also been witnessed. all things considered though, the case for several species of big cat breeding here seems to go against common sense to me - lack of corpses/scats found etc. how 'bout YOU though? have any RAUKers ever seen an alien big cat (puma, black-phase leopard, lynx etc) or their signs? do you believe they are at large and thriving in GB? further, if big cats are here and breeding (this is decades after the intro of Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 - so any individuals nowadays cannot be those originally released*) WHAT do herpers think should be DONE about the situation? thanks, ben * life expectancy of wild big cat in uk= 10-15 yrs im told Diversity. |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 29 Jan 2011 I've had a couple of puzzling sightings whilst out at night in the countryside. First one about twenty years ago and walking about midnight along a small lane with conifer forest and scrub on either side. It was August. It was one of those rare inky black nights when you can hardly see where you're going. As we walked along we came to a stretch with bushes either side of the lane and looking to our left as we heard a slight noise we saw two lights. They weren't glow worms, more yellowy, and yet gave out some light beyond their source into the bush. I was with my husband and we both found this quite scary. The light was from two sources about 2-3ft above the ground and about the distance of a pair of eyes on a head. We felt it was something alive. Very soon after that I read of the fact that members of the lion family emit light from their eyes at night - I think I saw a photo - without having a light shone onto them. The episode made me think. The other strange sighting was around dusk on a summer evening when I was walking beside a mature conifer wood next to a heath when I looked in and saw what I thought was a big cat bounding off through the trees. I know deer and didn't think it was a deer or fox. On the other hand I have spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours out in the countryside at night/on the dusk and never seen or heard anything suspiciously big cat like. My sightings could have had other explanations. I wasn't sure about ghosts until I saw one, so I don't think you should ever say never! If big cats exist they surely aren't making themselves visible very often and as far as I know not devouring flocks of sheep. Perhaps just forget about them as I'm not sure they would be easy to kill as no one has much luck even finding them to film. Suz |
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AndyS Senior Member Joined: 26 Aug 2007 No. of posts: 95  View other posts by AndyS |
Posted: 31 Jan 2011Well about 25 years ago, I was Fishing down at Windlesham Arboretum,( quite near Lightwater Country Park) on one of the lakes called the serpentine (long and Narrow),being a members only fishing it was a very quiet spot. I looked up from baiting, and on the other bank,(maximum distance 50 feet) up a 4 or 5ft dirt bank with rhododendrons at the top was a Largish cat like animal slowly and quietly walking in the dappled undergrowth of the rhododendron, I saw it, it saw me and it slowly disappeared off in to the denser parts of the rhododendrons with not a care in the world type of attitude. This wasn't a Puma/Panther size Cat more a large Ocelot/Serval size.Its something I'll remember for the rest of my life. |
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Scale Senior Member Joined: 05 Dec 2010 No. of posts: 83  View other posts by Scale |
Posted: 01 Feb 2011 Whilst driving at night my brother rounded a corner to see a large black cat crossing the road in front of his car. This was in Shropshire about 7 years ago. I've never known him to lie and if he was i reckon i could tell. He never reported it, publicised it or banded it about so what would be the point of making it up anyway. |
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ben rigsby Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 No. of posts: 337 View other posts by ben rigsby |
Posted: 02 Feb 2011 i wonder how long itll be then before panthera pardus etc are included in the Collins Field Guide to British Mammals in its "alien or naturalised species" chapter? Diversity. |
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AGILIS Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 694  View other posts by AGILIS |
Posted: 03 Feb 2011 Will there soon be future news reported in the
media of an old codger out herping found dead with his throat torn out in the heather . or some body dying after being bitten by a feral cobra that has established on our heaths keith 
LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID |
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ben rigsby Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 No. of posts: 337 View other posts by ben rigsby |
Posted: 04 Feb 2011
mind you, wouldnt want to worry you or anything but there WERE reports in the media a few years ago of a young lad being attacked and later treated in hospital for scratch wounds. he described a black leopard. it was near Raglan in S Wales. wonder if DaveW or others in Wales remember it? Great pic! Ben Diversity. |
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Paul Ford Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2006 No. of posts: 124 View other posts by Paul Ford |
Posted: 08 Feb 2011 On holiday in Devon a few years ago we came across three dead badgers that had been torn to pieces within yards of each other - not sure what would be capable of that but on speaking to the land owner he put it down to the local big cat sightings.... |
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Baby Sue Senior Member Joined: 19 Feb 2008 No. of posts: 412  View other posts by Baby Sue |
Posted: 08 Feb 2011
I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents. 
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 I've had one sighting and I wasn't the only one to see it, my then brother in law had seen it before too. This was on Hindhead in the late '80s at dusk. Black, size of a large dog, but distinctly feline in proportion and in the way it moved. It was at a considerable distance moving in and out of fairly tall grass which helped me judge its size when I visited the spot of the sighting. It led me to the conclusion that it is either very easy to imagine having seen a big cat.. or there really are some out there. I guess I'm pretty use to seeing mammals in the wild in the UK and nothing 'known' fits the picture I still have clearly in my mind of a large cat. It was the only time I've ever felt the slightest fear whilst observing an animal in the wild. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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AGILIS Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 694 View other posts by AGILIS |
Posted: 11 Feb 2011 Well could be a werewolf or merecat?? LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID |
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ben rigsby Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 No. of posts: 337 View other posts by ben rigsby |
Posted: 11 Feb 2011
can you get werewolf or Loch Ness monster GHOSTS? that would be an impressive sighting! Diversity. |
- HERE?,,,,,,,,,,,, kitty kitty!!! |
