foxdropper 17,092 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 2 hours ago, Arry said: Mate I believe there has to have been some breeding as Big Cats that were seen in around 2000 would not be still around and I know of sightings in the Southhams ( South Devon ) since then. One such encounter I that happened about a year or 18 months ago a chap driving to work first light seen a Black big cat in a open gate way so put his vehicle in the gate way and watched it run up the field. He' a shooting man and angler who knows exactly what he was seeing. He would only tell of the account through my brother-in-law as he has a business and didn't want people to think he was lying or nuts. Thats how bad it is. I also think they do seen but don't say nothing for fear of ridicule. As said before none of my mates reported or went to the media just told mates. Cheers Arry In that case Arry ,please give the co ordinates to GM as I’m sure he’d be interested .With all the sightings you mention I’d of thought at least would of been photographed or videoed .I think you’ll find that if such pics ,vids do come forward and can be linked to a location in the Uk ,most of the doubters ,me included would say straight away that’s a big cat mate ,in the UK thank you very much for posting . Ive never seen one nor evidence of such yet apparently I’m in an area where sightings were rife ,been to several supposed kills that turned out to be dogs .The dogs were accounted for and the killing ceased .It seems to of gone quiet since I accounted for a large feral cat seen previous in the thread .Again GM may know of more recent sighting in my area . Im out a fair bit calling foxes ,use a state of the art thermal and know the regular signs of every mammal I encounter ,including house cat kills and spoor . Im surprised the lads that use fox pro callers up and down the country with a variety of calls from cotton tail rabbits to cub distress and everything in between ,havnt spotted one but even though I’m part of a fox shooting group on the web there’s not been a single case of a large cat called in to my knowledge .Not saying ever as I’m sure GM knows of a case of this . Theres a few vids on the tube of both leopards and cougars coming in boldly to distress calls . Im looking forward to my visit to his and if there is any sign I’m going call and see what happens with thermal at hand .Either way I’ll post results on here to be sure . Link to post Share on other sites
foxdropper 17,092 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 2 hours ago, shaaark said: As I've said a few times, in this thread. The odd pairing over the years, yeah, very feasible. A thriving population of regularly breeding big cats, no. But just to put things into a bit of perspective, as to people banging on about pics off people's mobile phones, or whatever, and this is just my thinking, might be very wrong, but, weren't there more frequent sighting in the late 70's and early 80's, when due to the dangerous animals licence, there were more cats 'set free', and obviously a few escapees, add to the fact that NO-ONE would've been able to take a pic of one on their mobile phone, because no fukcer had a mobile phone in the late 70's and early 80's because they weren't available then, let alone a mobile phone with a camera!! All very true mate but arnt we lead to believe they are about at the time of writing this when 99% of the population has a smart phone more than capable of snapping a large cat up to and exceeding 100 m . No matter the size of any breeding nucleus ,the supposed sightings are there ,continue daily and yet these sightings go un snapped in an era when peoples dinners appear on Facebook with regularity . Its not enough to expect anyone with a decent brain to just fall in line because we are told this and that by a few die hard cat hunters . Link to post Share on other sites
shaaark 10,140 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, foxdropper said: All very true mate but arnt we lead to believe they are about at the time of writing this . Not too sure, foxy. Can't keep up with most of the sightings etc lol, it's not something I really keep my finger on the pulse with, as it were. But, and I don't know whoever has supposed to have said 'there's a breeding population of a thousand leopards' in britain, or whatever species, that's plainly preposterous. Could quite easily be a few, dotted around britain, and pairing up every couple of years though? Edited December 5, 2022 by shaaark 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Greyman 25,291 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 2 minutes ago, sandymere said: Her husband discounted the whole tale as nonsense so likely they were sold elsewhere. She was more famous for dodgy deals and bad treatment rather than "born free types". Again is it plausible? 3 half tame pumas would soon have drawn attention to themselves. There are feral cats every were these are all the result of pets that have been born for generations as pets yet they can revert to the wild in very short times all the sightings of the 80s were mostly released pets that were still learning but after Several generations of breeding they are now totally uk native, and don’t show themselves so much these animals will travel for several hundred miles on there travels so meeting a female is not impossible, i,ve offered to take foxdropper out in late April because I know of one area that I believe holds a female and at this time of year she seems to attract a male or two as the number of sightings and kills there increases and carry on for a few months were as in most areas they move through in a week or two, it’s tiny numbers but as I said they are more than willing and able to travel, there is one male in the states with a collar on that has a territory of 400 square miles so an area like Dartmoor may only have 4 or 5 cats same as the Cotswolds, and these animals are making up for all the different sightings it is all very needle in a haystack and the numbers of sightings don’t represent the number of animals, I was also like arry in as much as I never saw anything in the 80s 90s were as I had mates that saw them and even slipped dogs on them my first ever encounter came in 2015 in an area I had hunted night and day for over 30 years and never in my wildest dreams suspected anything like that was out there maybe nothing was there but one of these breedings has started another little group as I now get several sightings there a year,all I can do is keep collecting as much info as I can in the hope I can build a full picture and one day have my cameras in the right place but I think as the latest video has shown nothing will change the minds of some people especially those that rely on Wikipedia for there truths 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Greyman 25,291 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 35 minutes ago, foxdropper said: All very true mate but arnt we lead to believe they are about at the time of writing this when 99% of the population has a smart phone more than capable of snapping a large cat up to and exceeding 100 m . No matter the size of any breeding nucleus ,the supposed sightings are there ,continue daily and yet these sightings go un snapped in an era when peoples dinners appear on Facebook with regularity . Its not enough to expect anyone with a decent brain to just fall in line because we are told this and that by a few die hard cat hunters . Do us a favour mate, go outside between dusk and dawn and take a couple of snaps of a cow in a field with your iPhone,it won’t work in poor light conditions, cats by there nature are mostly dawn and dusk or nocturnal animals even trail cams go all to f**k at these times of day as they go from night vision to day and vice versa, very simple answer and more plausible than 1000sof people lying every year 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Arry 18,626 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 38 minutes ago, foxdropper said: In that case Arry ,please give the co ordinates to GM as I’m sure he’d be interested .With all the sightings you mention I’d of thought at least would of been photographed or videoed .I think you’ll find that if such pics ,vids do come forward and can be linked to a location in the Uk ,most of the doubters ,me included would say straight away that’s a big cat mate ,in the UK thank you very much for posting . Ive never seen one nor evidence of such yet apparently I’m in an area where sightings were rife ,been to several supposed kills that turned out to be dogs .The dogs were accounted for and the killing ceased .It seems to of gone quiet since I accounted for a large feral cat seen previous in the thread .Again GM may know of more recent sighting in my area . Im out a fair bit calling foxes ,use a state of the art thermal and know the regular signs of every mammal I encounter ,including house cat kills and spoor . Im surprised the lads that use fox pro callers up and down the country with a variety of calls from cotton tail rabbits to cub distress and everything in between ,havnt spotted one but even though I’m part of a fox shooting group on the web there’s not been a single case of a large cat called in to my knowledge .Not saying ever as I’m sure GM knows of a case of this . Theres a few vids on the tube of both leopards and cougars coming in boldly to distress calls . Im looking forward to my visit to his and if there is any sign I’m going call and see what happens with thermal at hand .Either way I’ll post results on here to be sure . Most of the sightings I'm talking about were before 2000 mate and most people never had moblies then and no cameras. I have pasted info on to GM of exacted location of the sighting a year /18 months ago and there was a sighting few miles away around the same time both black. I have shot hundreds of foxes mate and I'll be honest it was for money to make ends meet, I skined and sold their belts mate. Call were all finger on the side of the lips and hardly any body else doing back then. We could not keep up with phone calls wanting them culled. We never had one come up the light mostly used shotguns back then. Having said that one night we saw a set of eyes I have never seen anything like it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Now I'm not saying it was a big cat as could not make it out but it moved very fast but would not come, who knows. We never carried a camera and why would we. If I remember right was there not a lad on here that said they did have one come to them. My friends word is good enough for me and why should it not be. Most sightings of friends were full daylight anyway mate. Cheers Arry 5 Link to post Share on other sites
Daniel cain 42,893 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 'Big cat' blamed for string of livestock attacks in Wales WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK Farmers have claimed a big cat is roaming the Welsh countryside following a string of savage attacks on livestock... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Daniel cain 42,893 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 Full list of the reported big cat sightings in North Wales - North Wales Live WWW.DAILYPOST.CO.UK Experts say it is likely that the reduced levels of human activity during the pandemic encouraged big cats to... interesting description of the sightings around Snowdonia....and from a witness in 1994 Link to post Share on other sites
Greyman 25,291 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 5 minutes ago, Daniel cain said: 'Big cat' blamed for string of livestock attacks in Wales WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK Farmers have claimed a big cat is roaming the Welsh countryside following a string of savage attacks on livestock... Be interesting to know if the sheep are dipped or not, a lot of hill flocks aren’t and do get hit dipping seems a deterrent 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Daniel cain 42,893 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 some parts of Wales are like another world mate there's some big tracts of land ,full of stock that don't get many people on them,other than the farmers/mod 5 Link to post Share on other sites
sandymere 8,261 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Greyman said: There are feral cats every were these are all the result of pets that have been born for generations as pets yet they can revert to the wild in very short times all the sightings of the 80s were mostly released pets that were still learning but after Several generations of breeding they are now totally uk native, and don’t show themselves so much these animals will travel for several hundred miles on there travels so meeting a female is not impossible, i,ve offered to take foxdropper out in late April because I know of one area that I believe holds a female and at this time of year she seems to attract a male or two as the number of sightings and kills there increases and carry on for a few months were as in most areas they move through in a week or two, it’s tiny numbers but as I said they are more than willing and able to travel, there is one male in the states with a collar on that has a territory of 400 square miles so an area like Dartmoor may only have 4 or 5 cats same as the Cotswolds, and these animals are making up for all the different sightings it is all very needle in a haystack and the numbers of sightings don’t represent the number of animals, I was also like arry in as much as I never saw anything in the 80s 90s were as I had mates that saw them and even slipped dogs on them my first ever encounter came in 2015 in an area I had hunted night and day for over 30 years and never in my wildest dreams suspected anything like that was out there maybe nothing was there but one of these breedings has started another little group as I now get several sightings there a year,all I can do is keep collecting as much info as I can in the hope I can build a full picture and one day have my cameras in the right place but I think as the latest video has shown nothing will change the minds of some people especially those that rely on Wikipedia for there truths 3 newly released apex predators aren't feral cats killing a few mice, they would have been having a major impact and likely killed pretty dam quickly. As I say places like Dartmoor are closely studied yet no cats found. An example, perfect cat territory. Deer Survey 2022 – a bird’s eye view – Fingle Woods FINGLEWOODS.ORG.UK Deer, as with everything in the world of wildlife, can be complicated. At Fingle Woods, we spend a lot of time... If an apex predator or predators were present it would be known and studied, they don't live in isolation. Link to post Share on other sites
foxdropper 17,092 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Greyman said: Do us a favour mate, go outside between dusk and dawn and take a couple of snaps of a cow in a field with your iPhone,it won’t work in poor light conditions, cats by there nature are mostly dawn and dusk or nocturnal animals even trail cams go all to f**k at these times of day as they go from night vision to day and vice versa, very simple answer and more plausible than 1000sof people lying every year But I’m out with a thermal then mate that can see in the dark ,dusk and dawn as well as daylight .I’m not alone either .If the shooting show in the NEC was anything to go by ,every single serious shooter in the country now has one so I’d say your dreams are going to be answered very soon dare I say it ,if they are there . 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Greyman 25,291 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 5 minutes ago, sandymere said: 3 newly released apex predators aren't feral cats killing a few mice, they would have been having a major impact and likely killed pretty dam quickly. As I say places like Dartmoor are closely studied yet no cats found. An example, perfect cat territory. Deer Survey 2022 – a bird’s eye view – Fingle Woods FINGLEWOODS.ORG.UK Deer, as with everything in the world of wildlife, can be complicated. At Fingle Woods, we spend a lot of time... If an apex predator or predators were present it would be known and studied, they don't live in isolation. No they really do mate they come together to mate and a cub will stay with mum but in general the cats we are referring to are solitary animals sorry Link to post Share on other sites
MH1 1,805 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 Were big dogs behind Pembrokeshire 'big cat' attacks? WWW.WESTERNTELEGRAPH.CO.UK Big dogs rather than big cats are thought to have been behind a series of fatal... There was another sighting back then, same sort of area, don't know how reliable the bloke is with that job though lol 'Closest sighting yet' of big cat in Pembrokeshire WWW.BBC.CO.UK A former police officer tells of his close encounter with what he believes is a... Link to post Share on other sites
foxdropper 17,092 Posted December 5, 2022 Report Share Posted December 5, 2022 36 minutes ago, Daniel cain said: 'Big cat' blamed for string of livestock attacks in Wales WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK Farmers have claimed a big cat is roaming the Welsh countryside following a string of savage attacks on livestock... The only tracks here Sean are dog ,badger and fox . 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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