The Natural Stuff

Big Cats in Britain - Page 4 of 4

Also today, there are more and more reports of lynx, and lynx types. These may include bobcat and caracal for example. There are also small cats living wild in the UK, and we seem to have more available proof in the way of dead bodies of leopard cat 'felis bengalensis' and jungle or swamp cat 'felis chause', of which recovered bodies have been officially certified, and bodies of lynx have also. These animals have either been shot, or are road traffic accidents. There is no proof of this kind regarding puma or leopard or jaguar or tiger for example .

This does not mean that sceptics can say 'there you are then oh no it goes much deeper than that. Many scientists or people on the 'big cat case' may agree that there is a conspiracy to hide the truth. I personally agree, for several reasons, of which I will not go in to now. There have been many bodies of big cats on major roads and motorways seen by many people and reported, only to find that the body had vanished. People in white coats have been seen at the sites, yet with all the proof, especially that held by the police, the government bodies still do not officially acknowledge the truth. I also have seen large cats with my own eyes, on many occasions, of three different species, and have been doing field research into these animals here in Britain for the last ten years seriously, but can add another fifteen for not so serious.

I have been on the case of several different animals in my home counties, and have found much evidence from all areas of Dorset, and around its borders with Wiltshire and Hampshire. I have managed to puzzle together a sort of picture regarding species, habitats, food, territories, and signs such as footprints, scats, hairs and food remains. One can gain a lot of information when doing this kind of research. Photographs of the animals are not really so important , but would obviously be a bonus. It is not like photographing insects or deer for example. Trigger cameras have not been successful due to lack of them in a large territory or bad quality cameras. Personal observations are short, and often during darkness.

It is worth knowing that biologists that study big cats in the wild in their native lands may only have a few glimpses in many years, yet they may know a lot about an individual animal from the field work. I have also gathered evidence from other areas of Britain. Yet, there are hundreds of photographs to look at. Much camcorder footage also. There are on average two thousand records per year in the UK. Records come from every county in England, many areas in Wales and many Scottish countie,. Northern Ireland and the republic. Records come from all kinds of people from all walks of life. Some people have multiple sightings while others have one or two, yet the majority of them had not believed that big cats roamed the British countryside before, and some have admitted that they thought that people who saw these things were idiots or liars.

So many people think that our boring and cold rainy Britain cannot possibly be home to these kind of animals. Britain is far from boring, is not really rainy, and is far less cold than a lot of other countries. Actually Britain is mostly countryside of many differing habitats, many hills and mountains, much forest and farmland and heath. Britain has an abundance of wildlife, and much of it in dense concentrated amounts along with much water cover and average temperatures. One can Honestly say, that Britain is perfect for large cats, and they are doing very well indeed. There is not just the odd one or two roaming hundreds of miles, but hundreds of the three main species, leopard, puma and lynx (in order of abundance).

The Big Cats In Britain Research Group is an organisation made up of different kinds of people, all beavering away doing their bit to help research the phenomenon. A yearly book is published covering hundreds of sightings across Britain and Ireland, and also Australia where they seem to have a similar problem. Representatives in many counties in all the British countries collect data from certain areas. We have an annual conference where we all get together and lecture, debate , socialise and bring various items and publications etc. We can be dubbed as the foremost group in this kind of research regarding this subject.

Please see www.bigcatsinbritain.org.

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Remains of sika stag