Cyclist sees big cats

Let’s be careful out there…

looks cuddly 😀

I do have a tale, which I’ve related here before; are you sitting comfortably?

I took a job near Kildrummy in rural Aberdeenshire. The brief was to run to the top of various large hills / mountains in the region and take panoramic photos (for wind farm developments). Most of these hills were of no interest to ramblers and the only way up them was to heather-bash, often up near vertical inclines. Careful study of OS maps usually allowed me to join estate landrover tracks at various points and when I found such a track it was a huge relief to me. I worried also about my dog’s ability to run up cliffs through rough, snow-laden heather all day.

Anyhoo, on one such jaunt, on day 12 of the expedition, Kasper the dog jumped a good foot in the air. We had been going a good two hours at a very fast pace and had finally found the landrover track bisecting the hill. There was a massive poo. There’s no other way to say it. It looked like a fox poo but much fatter, longer and full of deer hair.

I took a photo of it next to my foot for posterity (it was a good few inches longer than my size nine boot) and we carried on at breakneck speed to finish the job in hand. All the way up this remote and uninteresting path, Kasper behaved like a puppy – leaping and hunting and frequently looking back down the path, growling. As the gloaming set in on the descent, I spent more time looking behind me than looking forward and had a few tumbles – I felt watched.

Three days later I ran into the water baillif for the local area. I’d been trying to avoid him. He was a big lad, with a big beard and a crimson whisky drinkers’ face. I’d seen him several times over the course of the job – he always seemed to be trying to encourage his ancient Landrover into ever greater feats of speed to catch up with me but we only ever saw each other in passing.

On this day though, the viewpoint I was instructed to capture was a roadside one (easy money!). He pulled up and basically demanded my life story which didn’t take long. Disappointed that I was not a poacher, he drew the story (and the photo) of the big, hairy poo out of me.

According to him, there are two big cats running around the Cairngorms but he’s only seen one of them. “Ye never ken fit’s stravaigin’ aboot in those hills”, he warned. Cue 40 minutes of big cat sighting stories and thereafter a whole evening of fishermans’ tales round the fire later in the evening in the local hotel. The telling factors for me were; the unusual poo and the correlating details of “…the white tip on its tail twitching from side to side as it stuck its nose in a bush”; details which were corroberated by both the bailiff and many guests at the hotel.

Sadly, all the images I took on the memory cards, including the giant poo, are the property of an Edinburgh-based consultation company. Personally, I’m convinced that there are plenty of big cats raking about in the less visited regions.

TLDR is perfectly acceptable.

That sounds like an epic job! How did you land that one?

It’s funny how all video and photo footage is very blurred, people have plenty of tales about them but still no definitive proof. I’m not convinced a smelly turd and a spooked dog is any proof either.

Ok there may be some escaped but then by some chance to meet up with others and breed, nah sorry.

I think the bloke has been to Woburn and is having flashbacks.

Leighton Buzzard – a very strange place indeed. I was more afraid of the locals than anything they imagined!

there is one in hertfordshire. been seen from time to time

Been a few sightings in Aberdeenshire where we ride. I’ve never seen anything… but badgers running at you are scary.

An RAF dog handler caught some good video footage of a large black cat crossing the railway tracks at Helensburgh. The railway tracks give a good sense of scale, and the picture clear enough to make out that your looking ar a large cat, as opposed to a Labrador or similar.

There’s also been a couple of sightings close to us on the Campsies, one by Bob Sharp, who was a lecturer in outdoor ed at Strathclyde uni, and spotted a tan cat around 5ft in size near Meikle Bin, and possibly the same cat was seen by a woman who was parked at Crow Rd about 3 miles from Bob’s sighting.

Considering most Africans never see a leopard in ther lifetime, nor most Americans a puma, the likelihood of any good photos of a handful of non-native big cats roaming the UK is minimal.

That sounds like an epic jobbie!

+1

Considering most Africans never see a leopard in ther lifetime, nor most Americans a puma, the likelihood of any good photos of a handful of non-native big cats roaming the UK is minimal.

So because 2 cats that live in some parts of 2 continents away from the huge built areas aren’t seen by the populations that live there this justifies why no one has any photos here but people say they have seen them.

Considering most Africans never see a leopard in ther lifetime, nor most Americans a puma, the likelihood of any good photos of a handful of non-native big cats roaming the UK is minimal.

UK very small, Africa/America very big 🙂

A group of us were riding along a hedgerow from Retford (Notts) towards clumber park one warm summers evening. Two of us were about 40-50 metres ahead. We heard something big running along side of us in the fully grown corn field the other side of the hedge. Both immediately stood on our pedals and looked over to see a BIG black cat turn away and run off towards the trees at a tremendous pace. It was as big as a labrabor (but longer), jet black and frighteningly fast.

As big and black as Labrador ay.

There was one caught on video on the MSN homepage a few days ago in Glouscestershire
Another was seen round our way in north Warwickshire

There have been numerous sightings round by me in the local green belt and I have seen something a few years back.
It was dark and its huge green eyes reflected back from my lights and when it ran off the cows went apesh1t

The truth is out there people

There was a big cat in the new forest a while back, one of the rangers found a bit of fur on a barbed wire fence. Cant remember what it belonged to too though.

‘Beasts with 2 Backs’ are frequently reported on Cannock Chase.

As are-
Cavemen,
Aliens,
Grey Ladies,
Wild Boar,
Lights in the sky,
Wallabies,
Pumas / Pathers / Leopards / Cougars
Bulk purchasers of KY.

If anyone wants to go looking for a large predator, there may be one in the glens on the northern side of Ben Wyvis. It’s an area with lots of deer. There’s no path and it probably only has humans pass through a few times a year, if that.

Last week I was heather bashing through it when I came across the detached leg of a deer. Judging by the teeth marks it had been chomped on by something with large jaws bigger than say a fox. I was running out of light and in a hurry to reach the track before dark, so no pic.

in a hurry to reach the track before dark

Before them there demons get yee!

Found the original piece about Bob Sharpe’s sighting. I can’t remember the details of the aftermath, but he did end up with a photograph of the pawprint, which the folks at the university were able to identify as a cat of some description. I think his colleagues thought it was more likely to be a puma, rather than a lioness.

Having said that, the Campsies are my regular dog walking area, and I’ve been up and down them umpteen times and never seen a thing.

Stroud has a blurry BEAST not been seen to eat deer.

I thought this thread was about a chain of gentlemens clubs 🙁

As above, not really surprising there aren’t any good photos of any wild cats. If they’re out there there’ll only be a handful, and AFAIK people don’t often come back with good photos of, say, deer and badgers they’ve come across them walking their dogs and there are loads of them- probably a lot less shy as well.

Not sure I’m a believer- I wouldn’t dismiss it though.

Photographed not far from Laggan Wolftrax last year…

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/photo/2012salilberasn-hm?gallery=2634&category=57

Seem to remember Chris Packham saying something along the lines that he has a problem with the idea. If it were Pumas then they’re only black for part of the year and a tan colour for the rest of the year. He therefore wanders why there aren’t sightings of large ‘tan’ cats which there generally aren’t. For most species to survive and breed you need a population of between 20 and 40. 20-40 large cats, even in a large rural area, would incite a lot more sightings and evidence.
If these are lone animals, then there’s a lot of private owners not letting the authorities know they’ve escaped and indeed that they owned them in the first place!
So a breeding population? – doubtful
Loads of single lone animals? – even more doubtful

I think this is like a lot of ‘mysteries’ out there. 99% are wrong identification but 1% have some founding. Somebody, somewhere probably has seen a large escaped cat but most haven’t.

Don’t get me wrong there probably has been cases of them but most of the sightings are bollocks. People seeing something and their imagination feeling in the details. No doubt escaped ones may survive for awhile but then breeding and continue to breed, don’t think so.

There was one sighted here about 14 years ago chasing rabbits on the industrial estate, a one right next to the main road into town. I mean come on really?

Two good friends of mine have said that theyve seen one it was ‘bigger than a doberman, black and definitely a cat’. They arent the sorts to make something like that up either. That was in ashridge hertfordshire

If these are lone animals, then there’s a lot of private owners not letting the authorities know they’ve escaped and indeed that they owned them in the first place!

I seem to remember reading somewhere that part of the rationale for there being a number of these animals is that the law was changed a number of years ago to make it illegal to own large cats as exotic pets – apparently very few were ‘handed in’, leading to speculation that the majority were simply abandoned.

Seem to remember Chris Packham saying something along the lines that he has a problem with the idea. If it were Pumas then they’re only black for part of the year and a tan colour for the rest of the year. He therefore wanders why there aren’t sightings of large ‘tan’ cats which there generally aren’t.

I think I’m right in saying that pumas/mountain lions are generally a tawny colour and their coat doesn’t change seasonally. Not sure what he’d be talking about there?

user-removed, do you know Adrian Davies? He is a wildcat specialist I’ve worked with in the past on jobs up north, I wonder what he thinks of this kind of thing!

When I was young I lived in the African bush in amongst plenty big cats. It was very difficult to see them even if you knew where they were. Plenty of evidence in the shape of pawprints etc though.

Big cats have a distinct carriage and if you see one even fleetingly it’s hard to mistake it for anything else, so I’m prepared to believe that people are seeing them.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that part of the rationale for there being a number of these animals is that the law was changed a number of years ago to make it illegal to own large cats as exotic pets – apparently very few were ‘handed in’, leading to speculation that the majority were simply abandoned.

Yep, the law did change in 1976 and there was some well documented cases of private owner releasing animals. I well remember Wallabys bouncing around parts of St Leonards Forest in the late 70’s. Big cats but namely Panthers (see below) have a life-cycle of around 12 years so they’d all be dead now unless they were breeding (needing between 20-40 in the same rough area)

I think I’m right in saying that pumas/mountain lions are generally a tawny colour and their coat doesn’t change seasonally. Not sure what he’d be talking about there?

Sorry, my fault, substitute Puma for Panther

Big cats have a distinct carriage and if you see one even fleetingly it’s hard to mistake it for anything else, so I’m prepared to believe that people are seeing them.

Only if the people seek this know.

The one spotted up here I was talking about was my dog. The father in law was walking her at the exact time it happened, he let her chase the rabbits as it tired her out.

They’re probably werepanthers, which would obviously make them rather hard to track.

El Chupacabra of Britain, maybe…

Why would you need 20-40 to breed?

Surely it only takes two to tango

I have spotted in my garden, a large long haired cat. Almost the size of a labrador. Most likely a Maine Coon.

Typically most big cats are mingers so you need a certain number before you get one that is fit enough that the man big cats go phworrrrr.

There was a reported sighting by the former Head of Lomond Mountain Rescue last year of a big cat near the Meikle Bin in the Campsies.

I was out a week later on my cross bike riding the singletrack at the base of Dumgoyne where I found three dead sheep in close proximity to each other. About two to three hundred yards later, I found the remains of a sheep which appeared to have been killed and dragged up the hill by something reasonably substantial. It could have been a big dog I reasoned to myself in the gloaming but then my overactive fear gland kcked in, I shat it and got the hell out of there. 😀

I called the local police to advise the local farmer that something may have been worrying his sheep but heard nothing since. Was it a big cat? Who knows but I wouldn’t say 100% no.

There has also been a sighting by a policeman of a big cat crossing railway tracks near Dumbarton a couple of years ago which he captured on his mobile phone.

Perhaps that is why all the other Loch Ness Monsters became extinct ? Predated by big black panthers…