[Closed] Big wild cats!

Toyger, Bengal, Savannah, Safari cat (aka Geoffrey cub), Habari, Ocicat.
All now domestic breeds which are hybrids with wild cats.

Not all big cats can mate with domestic cats as they're not in the same Gene pool. Yes there are some, so are we to meant believe that one of the few that can got jiggy with Mrs Tinkles?

Like I've said I'm sure there's been genuine cases of them, especially from the ones released in the late 70s and 80s but I bet many of these, "Oooh I seen a big cat" aren't nothing but a blur of another animal and people's imagination.

Like I've said I'm sure there's been genuine cases of them, especially from the ones released in the late 70s and 80s but I bet many of these, "Oooh I seen a big cat" aren't nothing but a blur of another animal and people's imagination.

^ this, seems logical, those animals released in that timeframe will be nearing the end of their natural life-span or over it. The hybrid theory does sometimes seem a convenient way to keep the myth going. I want to believe.

And I have seen outlines of a creature with an unfamiliar gate and high hind quarters making off through trees away from me on two occassions

The hybrid theory does sometimes seem a convenient way to keep the myth going. I want to believe.

Hybrids, captive bred ones, could be what some people are seeing too. You get some bloody big tomcats as it is never chucking a bit of wild cat in there. Could still be the odd escapee out there but I'd say very few. There life span means the ones possibly released in the 70s and 80s will now be dead.

Drac - Im guessing that this is a topic which intrests you 😉

lol

Not really just kid of got a bit involved in the thread.

Id love to think that there are big cats roaming our countryside, It would make night rides out a bit more exciting.

And thats before we start on the Loch Ness monster!

I saw a large cat last summer. I was out rabbit shooting, hidden up in the long grass, sizing up some rabbits (no s****ing in the back there) which were well upwind of me. As I was preparing to take a shot I heard a noise from about 10 yards or so upwind. I slowly raised my head to have a peep and there was an exceptionally large cat looking back at me. I don't know who was more surprised but he shot off away from me. It was the size of a small Labrador, chestnut brown with dark bands on its face. There were dark (vertical) stripes on the back and flanks and the tail was hooped. TBH it was the tail that got me; I have had many moggies, including some frankly oversized Toms but none had a tail as long nor as bushy as this one.

When I got back I traced someone who has an interest in 'big cats', he s attached to the local wildlife and conservation trust. Anyway, he said there have been several reported sightings of large cats in Suffolk over the last few years. The best guess is that there was an escaped 'big cat' which took up residence in or around Ipswich (poor choice IMO). Somehow it cross bred with the feral population and has been spreading out along the railway network (easy meals - lots of bunnies). As the incidence of these cats gets further away from the source, they seem to be getting smaller and smaller. Either that, or there have been more reliable sightings. Anyway, my report was consistent with a report from a month earlier from the East of Bury St Edmunds (I live a few miles to the West).

At least in Suffolk, I am convinced there are big cats but experience shows they might not be as big as all that! The way they are going, if you don't see one soon, they'll have become miniatures!

Whilst there maybe the odd released animal out there I am not convinced that there are any in the FoD on anything like a permanant basis despite all the fuss. My uncle spent 50 (or 51) years working for the FC here, mostly as a widlife ranger. He avoided the office like the plague in later years and spent most of his life in the woods. His verdict, never seen anything. I seriously doubt anyone locally has spent a fraction of the time out there that he has yet if there was something surely he would have seen it.
I was convinced I had seen something a while back, just behind the Fountain in Parkend. Closer inspection revealled it to be Muntjac deer. They have the cat like crouch.

Excellent topic, I would live to think they are out there - I had an incident while on a canal bank at midnight and heard some very odd noises and the definate feeling of being watched. 24 hours later a mountain lion was "spotted" about 3 miles away - the Beast of Basingstoke no less

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apparently this was seen in Newport, Gwent.

Drac, that's exactly what happned with my hybrid. He is almost 2 foot tall. I know of another case at a pub in Knutsford of 2 bengals mistaken for wild cats.

crotchrocket, that is ace 😀

I found a big pawprint (I mean big) in my local woods, about 5 metres from were we leave our bags everytime we are there! I took a photo which is yet to be put anywhere, I'll put it on the Internet later and add a link. Scared me, never seen anything like it before or since or a 'big' cat as of yet. Just hope I don't meet one when I'm going about 15mph!

Here's the link. [url= http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/7749514/ ]Big paw found in local woods[/url]

that doesn't look like a paw print to me

In that case I have no idea what it is. Oh dear

Not a cat, totally the wrong shape and claws are all wrong, wolverine/badger maybe?

Badger I reckon

T-Rex?

Can they play the keyboard tho?

That paw was found in a ditch which was about a foot or two to where the pawprint was, if it was a badger there most likely would have been other prints in the ditch as it only has short legs. 😛

Friends opposite us back onto fields. Pete is a very reliable bloke, they take in sick and injured wildlife from the RSPCA and other organisations. They know a lot about animals. He tells a story that one night he was alerted by a commotion in the area of his out buildings where the animals are kept.
An adjoining field has sheep in, he found a sheep freshly mutilated by what he recognised as another animal, and states he had never seen anything like it. Went back to his house to get a camera and a gun and when he got back the sheep had gone!
He reckons that was one powerfully fox if that's what it was, have you ever tried to carry a sheep!

hazza123 - Member
Here's the link. Big paw found in local woods

Not a big cat. All the paw marks I have seen (lion, leopard) were with the claws retracted.

hazza123 - Member

Here's the link. Big paw found in local woods

Badger.

Shouldn't be too hard to confirm. Have a look around for fresh prints next time you are there in the wet. They follow the same routes without fail when still active in an area.

A couple of friends and I went out on a night ride near stroud aiming to find the big cat that was mentioned twice in the news just after christmas. obviously nothing was seen but I am now worried about solo night rides!

I spent more time looking behind me than looking forward and had a few tumbles - I felt watched.

You know.... according to a Belgian Para I used to know they were taught not to look at the backs of the heads of the people they were going to slit open with a knife, for that very reason.

What a lot of people forget is that there have actually been a few big cats that have been shot in the UK and no one could explain where they came from. If you look hard enough on the net you will dig up the details of these shootings.

Anyway my old man swears he's seen one at close quarter's whilst driving.

don't badgers have 5 toes in a print - unlike cat and dogs with 4