Chasing Shadows: Britain's Big Cat Mystery | Full Documentary
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- Опубліковано 17 вер 2020
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I've seen a LARGE black cat with my own eyes, clear as day, bold as brass!! From passenger seat whilst travelling along A47, Norfolk. It was walking through a field. I googled wild cats spotted in Norfolk immediately on my phone and was shocked at the amount of reports from the exact village we were passing. I feel quite honoured 😊
I live in Norfolk. My mum saw a Lynx around an area called Wood Green near Long Stratton. Where was your sighting?
@@chaatman5754 just past turning sign posted to Shipdham on A47 just before Necton. It looked like a panther to me. She was big, Lots of muscle, such an awesome sight.
@@bassmanjapan1729 lucky you to have seen such a sight. Norfolk has many big cat sightings so maybe one day I'll get lucky.
@@bassmanjapan1729 Must have been close to tell it was a "she" panther, or else an expert witness. Hence possibility of standard large moggy mis-identified, as commonly done on YT clips.
@@johnmead8437 I didn't see it on a yt clip tho did I....... I saw it walking through a Norfolk field with my own eyes
Never told anyone this before (apart form the wife). I used to be a truck driver on permanent nights travelling between Thatcham in Berkshire to Fradley Park near Lichfield every night. One morning in Sept/ Oct, 2006/2007 at about 4am, I saw what I believed to be a big black cat feeding on either a Muntjac or a Fallow deer in a fairly dense wooded area called "Langley Wood" on the southbound A34 about 5 mile North of Jct 14 of the M4. Had I been driving a car I would've completely missed it but with the added height of the truck I could clearly see it and even slowed down a bit just to make sure.
Sounds interesting. Tell us more
Callrissian, Thank you, this helps other witnesses who need validation too.
There was a big cat sighting last year by a cyclist just outside hungerford, very close to area you're talking about
Mate I'm from Birmingham. I work at hams hall and not far from there on the way to tamworth I saw what I can only explain to be a big back cat. Bigger than any common dog. I even stopped and watched run to the woodland. I always wanted to go there and investigate. That was 10 years ago now.
" I saw what I believed to be a big black cat feeding on either a Muntjac or a Fallow deer ~ I could clearly see it and even slowed down a bit just to make sure. "
Muntjac = 13 - 18 Kg. Fallow = 46 - 80 Kg.
My mum saw a Puma on the border between Surrey and Hampshire. This would've been like in the late 90s or so. Shes told me the story many times over the years, the story never changes, and my Mum really isn't a liar, nothing disgusts her more than lying. She was on her way to work early in the morning, still kinda dark. She has always said that it jumped out of the woods, touched down roughly on the middle line of the road and jumped back into the woods on the opposite side of the road. It jumped 2 lanes of road in 2 jumps. No domestic cat can do that, nor are any so big.
Years later she met a boyfriend who had found a dead sheep, totally mauled and dragged halfway over a barbed wire fence. No way any natural predator in UK is big or strong enough to maul a sheep that bad, and drag such a heavy weight mostly over a barbed wire fence.
There was 100% a big cat in my area between the late 90s and early 2000s.
To my knowledge there haven't been any sightings in my area for years and years. I certainly believe that there was a Puma or other big black cat.
They bring captive Cougars, Black Panthers and other cats to Britain for masonic lodge parties for some rituals and release them in the open to confuse some public confusion, and then take them away. Hence the cryptology continues.
I saw a Black Panther in the grounds of Knowle Hospital near Fareham in Hampshire in mid 90s. On a clear sunny
midday that happened to be my birthday, crossing a white chalk track no more than 20ft away. The animal was huge with rippling muscles, like Bagheera from jungle book. I'm sure it was female. She growled at me as she skulked by with her jaw nearly on the ground. Her tail was very long and raised, bending at the end like a hook. The last thing I saw was the tail moving through long grass like the fin from the movie Jaws. I sympathise with your Mum - only one person had ever believed me! 2 yrs later I read in the Portsmouth Evening News that a huge cat had been spotted in Farlington Marshes in Sussex, about 20 miles away or so.
Fantasticly made documentary but a few things bother me, it's mainly just wording tbh. When they say lynx aren't supposed to be the uk, that's false, lynx were native up until the medieval period where they were hunted to extinction. And if there are any breeding wild in the UK? GOOD, we need wild predators like them in the biodiversity hell that is Britain.
The other thing is depending on how far you go back we had an assortment of big cats here, including european jaguar, cave lion and potentially eurasian puma. Though All of these died out in the Pleistocene, and none survive here today.
Thanks for that david attenborough
That’s not to mention the scores kept at private addresses illegally! There’s been a few large black cat sightings where I live over the years.
Exactly well said.
Touche mon ami!
Lynx were native in the UK up until about 700AD
In 2004 mid January I was walking my dog on Roundway Hill in Wiltshire.My dog was in the car as we were driving away to come home, and crossing the track in front of us about 50 yards was a large black cat. It's tail (raised) as it stopped, looked at us then bolted across a field. It's tail was as long as it's body.
The one thing I remember we'll was its shoulders, they were big.
This was about 4-5years before my first camera phone.
92 North Wiltshire.
In the early 1990's ,I had a small holding on the edge of Dartmoor.
I had large animals as well as breeding and showing German Shepherd dogs - my neighbours were farmers.
One day one of my young dogs went walk about, and was spotted in a farmers field with sheep. The Famer was alerted, and I was contacted regarding my dog. I recovered the dog, then was told by the farmer that he had found a couple of dead sheep, and a couple were injured..he felt my dog was to blame!
I called my vet to come out and check the scene, and inspect my dog.
He found that there was no sheep wool in the teeth of the dog and no blood evidence, and he said that the injuries to the dead sheep, were not of a dog kill, but of a large cat, and that he knew of large cats in Devon and Cornwall.
It was well known among the farming community that wild cats had been let loose by a local private zoo.
Was this the Northern edge of Dartmoor by any chance ?
@@SyTheMetalhead ...no, southern edge.
@@momclean I know there were a lot of sightings around the Northern edge, particularly the Okehampton, South Zeal and Belstone areas
That sounds like a more believable story. Quite interested in this topic now
Must have been a lot of them released, to have built up a population that survived for decades.
Great documentary, the from panther a at the end spoke a lot of sense. A few years back a lynx escaped from Borth Zoo in Mid Wales, it was tracked down a few days later to a caravan park nearby and shot dead. The authorities said they had to shoot it as opposed to trying to recapture it, because they couldn't be sure it was the same one. That says to me they know there are more out there.
I saw a report not long ago of a man starting up Snowdon early in the morning (pre dawn) and being backed off the trail by what he described as definitely a cougar.
I 100% saw a Lynx around 12 years ago just out side Merthyr Tydfil in South wales
@@lluecaradoc Something as small as a Lynx could easily live unnoticed in the UK. Lynx are also all over Europe. They can also take the cold.
The boar was definitely staged. It made no sense. However, just cause one guy lied, doesn’t take away from any of the other evidence.
Why shoot it?. They dont attack Humans. In my country we breed them and set them free.
I live in Cornwall.
It's well known amongst people and authorities we have big cats down here.
It's amazing no one has ever been attacked given the amount of close encounters experienced here.
Me and two other men pulled a stag carcass that must of weighed 100 kilo /200 pounds 60 metres up a field toward the house and through an 8 foot locked deer fence.
The next day some kind of big cat had got it over the 8 foot damn fence and another 80 metres down the field and devoured what was left.
The amount of sightings and evidence over the years is abundant in Cornwall
Wow!!. Definitely a big cat to manage that!
Coyotes can do that no problem too
The different between a leopard taking a carcass up a tree and over an 8 foot fence are major, and the latter is scarcely credible (try climbing one with owner consent of course, there is little sloid resistance to get the leverage needed to carry a load). So it either went under the fence or confusion has occurred. The action of taking a large carcass towards a house and leaving it to stink is difficult to understand.
@@edwardtreadwell3859 They bring captive Cougars, Black Panthers and other cats to Britain for masonic lodge parties for some rituals and release them in the open to confuse some public confusion, and then take them away. Hence the cryptology continues.
So wheres the footage then ?
Growing up I was fascinated by big cats, loved them, still do, and I had spent many hours reading about them and looking at them.
When I was in the Wyre forest in the Midlands I was on the top of a hill, thick forest either side, but a stretch completely clear of trees from the top to the bottom of the hill. And I saw a huge black cat poke it's head out of the trees on one side, and then leg it across to the other side.
When I told others they all asked the same thing: "wasnt it just a big dog?"
Nope! Dogs and big cats move very differently, and have VERY different silhouettes, whether it be the protruding shoulder blades, thicker more useable tail, shorter snouts etc etc. No doubt in my mind, I saw a panther.
WMSP in wyre forest in Kidderminster have had multiple big cat escapes over the years. It might’ve been an old cat they owned before the zoo was refurbished, just depends what year you saw it
They definitely exist, both me and my father have seen one. I saw a puma shaped cat (although it was black) run out around 100 yards ahead whilst driving in the road and have to crouch and duck under a fence railing at least 2ft off the ground in 2004 between Newmarket and Cambridge.
My father saw a black panther in the 90's whilst driving at night between Wimbish Army Barracks and Saffron Walden. He say the yellow eyes in his headlights and slowed to a stop about 30 ft from it. It just sat there and snarled silently at the van he was in. He saw it clearly and in full beam lights for a good 10 seconds - a large black panther, no mistaking it.
I grew up on a farm in south Wales and I've seen what I can only describe as a Lynx a few times. The hunters all claimed they'd all seen it too. Grey fur and I thought it was some other animals at first but then it broke the treeline and you could clearly see it was a Lynx. My cousin claims he came face to face with it once too
callum, I think that the presence of lynxs could be a good explanation for some of the suspect carcasses which have been found. But I hesitate to call lynxs alien big cats. They are neither especially big nor truly alien. There are many areas in Europe where they have always been or where they have been re-introduced. They used to live in the UK as well, and it has been discussed if they should be re-introduced in order to control local deer populations. It’s possible that some nature lovers introduced a few specimen on the sly, or some escaped lynxs are very much capable to fend for themselves.
Lynxs are no danger at all for humans, but they might occasionally kill lifestock. Sightings are very rare because they are so shy.
During the 70s there was a fashion for people to keep exotic pets, as people found out a lot of creatures were unsuitable, its quite possible animals were released.
I think if they were re introduced, they would not only reduce the unsustainable population of deer, in the process they wouldn't need to go after farm livestock.
@@pauldurkee4764, re-introducing lynxs into certain regions in Europe has indeed been discussed as a possibility for controlling deer populations. And since lynxs prefer to stay in wooded areas it's very unlikely that they will prey extensively on lifestock. And lynxs aren't dangerous for humans.
As to other alien big cats - unfortunately it does happen that they either escape now and then, or they are released for various reasons by unresponsible owners. But it's highly unlikely that these animals will establish stable breeding populations. But they may be seen now and then.
I wonder if the illicit release of alien big cats is a specific UK and or Australian thing. The ABC phenomenon doesn't exist elsewhere in Europe. Big cats do escape occasionally, but they are normally found, and we don't have numerous eyewitnesses who claim to have seen a big cat. I am also puzzled by the fact that most eyewitnesses in the UK claim to have seen panthers (= black leopards) or pumas, while no one claims to have seen lions or tigers.
There are loads in Wales in my opinion.
@@nospoon4799 , I don't think that Wales has sufficient territory for supporting "loads" of alien big cats 😉 In their natural habitats in Africa, Asia or the two American continents they have thousands of square miles, and their offsprings need to establish their own territories when they are young adults! In the UK there's simply not enough space for breeding populations of alien big cats. But a few escaped big cats here and there are able to fend for themselves for a while. And, as we said, a few lynxs fit in well.
I did a hike and fly (paragliding) from near the top of Snowdon down towards Pen Y Pas. We landed and started to pack up our gear. I noticed some sheep which seemed freaked and as I carried on gazing, I saw a large black cat stalking the sheep. I watched this until they disappeared from my view, maybe about 5 minutes. It was a bit freaky as we had to walk over that way to get back down. Awesome to see it with my own eyes 😼
Few weird animal mysteries were as spooky as the Surrey Puma. Here in NZ, we get rumours that there are moa birds, who often stood eight feet high and were hunted to extinction centuries ago, still alive in the deep forest of the South Island every few years.
If only there were! That would be amazing!
You never know could well be.
@@edwardchampion8891Only a couple (at most) less than the elusive british big cat. But that's in the real world, those invading from portals probably supplement the population significantly.
There are rumours tahr are going to go extinct due to DoC killing them too, likely from the same outdoor user group.....
That dead “lynx” is not in fact a lynx, it’s a bobcat, a smaller, American cousin to the European lynx. The tail color, head shape, body color, facial markings, and size give it away immediately
Yeh correct. European Lynx are much larger.
Still cool that there is one in the uk
@@charlietaylor4835bobcats run free in Scotland 😂
My dads seen it clear as day and seen the paw prints (Oxfordshire countryside) but also I can’t believe you guys didn’t put up the best footage I’ve ever seen, it was on a programme that aired on itv (I think) in the late 90’s, the vid showed a very large black cat walking through a corn/wheat field along the tractor tracks and was taller than the crop and had a very long tail, it then leapt over a barbed wire fence with ease (domestic cat would walk through/under the fence) and disappeared in to a wooded area.
Me and a friend saw one in the early hours of the morning at a hotel on the outskirts of Milton Keynes. We were parked up in the hotel carpark and saw the cat on the edge of the carpark next to the field. I’m fairly knowledgeable about wildlife in general and this was definitely a large black Panther
22:47 I love how he's trying not to laugh
Yes a Black Panther does exist, they are not a myth they are very real and range from Southern Hampshire , through Dartmoor finishing on Bodmin Moor. The Army are tracking the Cats, the sightings are so rare because of Habitat that is travelling West form Hampshire to Bodmin Moor. The Farmers that Own Sheep were finding them with broken necks which discovered during their Autopsy’s, at first it was thought that killings were being committed by packs of dogs. The is impossible because dogs ALWAYS Kill their prey by ripping the Throats out.
I hate to peddle to the crazies, so I'm reluctant to even mention it but I'm 99% sure I seen one.
I'm an avid outdoorsman, but this was seen at work in Cambridgeshire.
It was the time of the year when the sun was rising around 0600 (April i believe) and i used to sleep at work in the countryside. My favourite thing to do was wake up, grab a coffee, grab a smoke and step in the garden that overlooks all the field's to watch the sunrise. Usually with a soft mist for that time of year, but this morning was clear.
I seen a big black object walking a few hundred metres away, along a line that would have divided two fields and had a small line of trees (only 3 or 4). I spent minutes wrapping my brain around it because it moved like a feline, but was too big. My brain was literally struggling to process what it was as I'm quite logical in my thinking.
I came to no other conclusion than a big cat.
Don't worry!. They definitely exist. I have seen two now, several years apart in the West Midlands. Both were Black Leopards.
I saw one in the late 80s in Scotland.
5 of us in a car saw it clear as day leap across the road right in front of us on the road over Sheriffmuir just north of Stirling.
Unmistakably a black leopard/panther. It was too long and low to be a dog and very big, very quick. It was a cat, a huge black cat.
Definitely a breeding population of puma. My ex husband witnessed one in 2006, clearly visible and scaleable, sadly no photo. Then in 2021 he saw another - again very clearly (sadly no photo). But the two sightings were only 400m apart. Highly unlikely to be the same animal.
I myself have seen a black leopard on two separate occasions, in rural Perthshire. The first time was in daylight about 6am, was very clearly a very large animal, sleek, with an extremely long tail. I could easily judge the scale by how it bounded onto the road in front of my car, across the road, and up a high embankment and over a fence at the top. The second time, it was at night, and again it bounded onto the road in one leap, then another leap it was off the road and away into the forest. It was certainly not a dog. Both times they occurred, were before camera phones.
Considering the UK was part of the Roman Empire and these animals were kept as pets by the elite it doesn’t surprise me that their descendants exist. We have big cat sightings her in Australia as well.
Also in the US
I was gamekeeper for the area encompassing Moss Plantation Knowsly. In 2004 I was in camo waiting for a barn owl to do his round of hedgerows. It was pre twilight so enough light to see vlearly. Rabbits were already on the fallow field feeding. Then i saw a large cat like animal with a very long tail. It was all black and had the head of a panther. I know the area very well, over 40 years. I could tell its size from the background and it was a good 5 to 6 feet. I never went in the woods again of a night after that. I only told my wife.
I seen one this week 100 % from about 300 yards away !! I got a vid from distance it was a beast they are everywhere!!!
I've seen a huge black cat with cubs in 2003 near Hullbridge in Essex walking through a field going into a woodland next to a rail track. I didn't have a camera but to this day I'm 100% what I saw. The cat had a very long tail and was many more times the size of a domestic cat.
I have seen a black cat around the same time in rayliegh
Anyone wanting to find Big Cats in the UK needs to go to the Goss Moor in Cornwall, and the surrounding wilderness of the China Clay mining area. I have now found 4 separate occasions of deer kill, the most recent was today (7th Feb 2021) at an area near Blackacre, where the local kids ride their scrambling bikes (it is a clearing at what used to be called St Dennis Junction, with 2 large cement loading bases at the centre). The deer carcass was lying at the far edge, to the east: all that remained was the head, spine and legs (still covered in fur) whilst the rib cage was totally exposed and licked clean. The rest of the body had been consumed. Interestingly, the muzzle had been eaten, as the tongue etc would be very meaty, but not the rest of the head. I took a photo and plan on going back tomorrow to take some video footage. Then 2 days ago, a deer had been struck and killed at the side of the road at a place called Cleers Hill, Whitemoor. Yesterday I went to investigate and found that the deer was gone, but could see where the body had been dragged back up the hedge and into the field from the direction it had originally come. However, there was no evidence of the body. On another recent occasion, at Slip Bridge, Goonamarris, I found a remote clearing where the remains of a deer had been scattered. Cornwall has the warmest winters in the UK, so Big Cats would find it an ideal area to survive.
definitely breeding in the area, I've encountered one whilst lamping near St Austell, we didn't hang around that night. the noise it made made poo come out I tell thee
Lincolnshire mate. I've seen some right stuff when Living in the woods. After a while the wildlife becomes used to you and it's then you see what's lurking about 💯
They probably are forced to eat more of the animal than they would in their natural habitat.
Not sure it's a good idea to publish the exact location, if there id actually one there... considering what a bag a big cat would be on UK soil for a hunter - and no-one need ever know. That's why it may be covered up - because if you say there's a big cat somewhere there's going to be trophy hunters inbound, thermal scopes are available today so its possible to hunt them in the dark when no-one's around.
@@JesseP.Watson precisely
We have the same thing in Australia. Nobody official will admit it but in certain areas farmers/vets etc are well aware of big cats living in their areas.
In the early 90s, i was walking my dog in the clear moonlight. In a nearby field i saw a large black animal, moving swiftly across the open grass. The unmistakable gait of a large cat. By the way, this sighting was approximately 300 metres from the boundary of peak District national park.
There's definitely big cats roaming the British country sides. A law that was past stopped people owning large wild animals in the 70's. Many of the rich owners let them free instead of killing them.
I grew up in the Midlands in the countryside and I have family members who came face to face with them. A sheep's remains were found 20 feet up a tree with huge cat like prints near by.
I will tell everyone to leave them alone they haven't killed anyone,it will just encourage people to hunt them
Yet, no evidence... Imagine that.
@@SueMyChin Yes, difficult to understand why the sheep remains wasn't photographed, and authorities given the information & chance to investigate, because after all it would have had definitive DNA on it.
But sometimes suchlike gets overlooked if outta your tree.
@@S.Trades Hearsay. Nothing more.
@@S.Trades Hearsay.
I live in Cornwall and i remember 10 years ago i used to drive a Ambulance that was converted into a Video library. My brother used to sit next to us as we drove around door to door delivering the dvds and video tapes. One evening we were driving a country road nexr Bodmin, and we were chatting along and we both stopped talking as this rather large Cat, Much bigger than a domestic cat was running in the road, or rather leaping, we have rather large Cornish walls in our lanes and it just kept running along the road and then just leaped up onto the cornish wall and went, so fast. We were both very quiet and it made us feel quiet scared and on edge We only had a few hundred yards to travel till the next door we had to call on and non of us wanted to venture out into the dark evening as it was not far away from the sighting. We did mention it to the home owner and they just took it in there stride as many people have seen something similar and they were not fazed by the affair.
I did not describe it sorry, it was mottled like a cat, brown color, not black. It was very large like a domestic car but double the size.
Hey just a heads up.. that predator pee spray you are using is often used to deter predators. E.g Big cats like pumas, Leopards, tigers etc are territorial. And if they smell the scent of another cat which has marked there territory. They will stay clear. So probably a bad idea using that!
Mo green got shot in the fucking eye
Territorial dominant animals re=mark their territory & defend it. Like the dog on the tyres
@@sham8444best movie ever!!
Also, they put the cameras in wetlands. Cats don’t lurk in wetlands.
Angela, funnily enough someone saw a panther in the Pershore wetlands earlier this year.
Genuinely not bothered about people that dont believe there are not big cats here, they are here, I am so lucky to have seen one, why would I lie, who am I impressing, no one, around 12/13 years ago in North Cornwall near Polzeath, I was a greenkeeper on a Golf Course and the week previous to the sighting we had a golfer come in swearing he had seen a big black cat on the course, so we all thought 'whatever', never thought nothing about it, but around a week later, myself and two greenkeepers were raking a bunker early in the morning, and I cant remember who saw it first, but we watched a big black cat chasing a deer up a steep hill, tail in the air when it turned on a sixpence, right behind the deer, shoulders were so muscular, we missed it for a second as trees obscured our vision, then it come back again, literally a foot from the deer, both flat out running, like something out of the Serengeti, and then they both went into the gorse undergrowth, and we never saw it again, it was so awesome to see, we all literally were like 'what the f', three of us were literally in awe that morning, and like I said, I was so lucky to have seen it, since then I have had three friends that have not just seen a black cat, but also beige big cats, a friend was out lamping one morning near Padstow with a farmer and saw a big black cat yards from them staring at them and then it jumped a hedge and went, also a friend hunting by Roughtor near Bodmin once saw a big beige cat walking close to a stonewall and also near where I live in St Merryn a holidaymaker told my better half she saw a big beige cat near to where they were staying in a carpark in the early hours.
I believe you 100 percent same happend to me I was fishing a lake in derbyshire in summer 2012 and was stalking some carp that were feeding on top ended up in dense bushes under a tree sat silently heard some crunching sounds turned my head and litrely about 12 foot away was a beige brownish cat with pointy ears it was as big as a German Shepard but had a fairly small head was sat. Chewing a large rat I froze in fear it looked directly at me for a few seconds then it bolted for it fast as lightning through some bushes I’ve never seen one before that and I haven’t seen once since I class myself lucky to have seen that so close that day as I doubt many have
@@theyliebutwhy8101 You don't need to explain yourself to people, you saw what you saw, like we both agree on though, incredibly lucky to see it, stay safe
@@tazandtimswildadventures369 They bring captive Cougars, Black Panthers and other cats to Britain for masonic lodge parties for some rituals and release them in the open to confuse some public confusion, and then take them away. Hence the cryptology continues.
🙌🏼 Epic sighting and what an experience to know exactly what you saw. I too have seen one also chasing a deer 'muntjac'. Saw it for long enough and close enough to identify it 100%. Black panther/melanistic leopard. Fit healthy cat. Witnessed by myself and 3 other people! 🤝🏼
Saw one once in Essex, close to the Suffolk border whilst out walking my dog sometime in the late 90's. It was just sat chilling in the middle of a crop field close to a wooded area where I'd regularly spot deer, so it clearly had a food supply. The land was owned by a friend of my dad's who said he used to be missing mysteriously live stock if he left them in any of the fallow land close to that wood overnight.
Myself an a colleague saw a panther in 2017 in Staffordshire. It was reported in the Burton Mail. We’re both quite big nature geeks and both agreed as to what we saw, no more than 20ft in front of my car. After it happened it became apparent there had been a lot of sightings in the area.
Wow, I live in staffs area, where abouts was it that you spotted it?
@@Solomandershorts it was on a back road whilst driving from Swadlincote to Wolves, but not too far from Swadlincote.
A few trail cameras would clarify it.
@@johnmead8437 I’d love to see any footage. The only issue with big cats is they tend to have huge territories
@@philcross5861 Particularly likely if in low numbers, which puts suspicion on there being a lot of sightings in one area. They are difficult to find usually.
The ID issue was recently demonstrated well in NZ. A experienced hunter shot a "juvenile black panther" where they have occasionally been reported (he saw a bigger one earlier), a photo was provided of the large carcass (head detail missing due to familiarity with projectile). A scientist managed to get a sample for DNA test. It was a very large (11kg) adult cat.
Which shows the difference between experienced witnesses and scientific confirmation.
If panthers were established, spotted ones would be present, carcasses in trees located and dogs be going missing.
Me and a friend both saw a large black cat, 100% we know what we saw in the village of Borstal in Kent in 2012.
This cat was over 5 feet, or 1.5 meters in length and we know this for a fact because it walked directly in front of a parked car at the bottom of a country lane hill.
The cat was as wide as the car from head to tail.
This was no domestic house pet, this was a large black cat, the walking in front of the parked car is what sold it for us, that's all the information we needed to confirm this cat was definitely over 5 feet long.
I’ve always been intrigued about large cats living in the UK, It started when I was at school and I read Colin Dann’s book the Siege of White Dear Park part of the Animals of Farthing Wood series if anyone knows of it. I was always on the lookout when visiting Dartmoor with my parents while on holiday but obviously never saw anything. But just a few years ago some thirty or more years later I did actually get to see my first wild cat, not a black leopard (unfortunately) but a lynx and I’m absolutely sure of it. It was while driving home from a friends in the evening. I saw movement on the side the road obviously a animal of some kind so I slowed up as I have a habit of near misses with animals fairly regularly as I commute early to work and often see Badgers, Foxes and Deer. This was clearly not one of those. I only witnessed it for a few seconds before it entered the undergrowth. But it was clearly fairly stocky, flat faced, had a stubby tail, pointy ears and light in colour I just can’t see I mistook it for anything else I had clear sight of it in my headlights and only being twenty foot or so from it. I’m sure of what saw was a very healthy looking Lynx. Anyway it made my day…
I saw a leopard sized black cat with a very long tail walking along a hedgeline (so was able to be clear on the size) in the field adjacent to where I lived on the Suffolk/Cambs border. A neighbour to whom I mentioned this told me that about thirty years earlier when he was a teenager, a group of local shooters had driven all the animals out of a local small wood using beaters, of which he was one, and he had seen a big cat flee from the wood. That was only a couple of miles from where I saw the big cat, but about thirty five years apart.
I saw a large black cat the size of an adult male leopard or jaguar walking along the edge of a field near reading in berkshire in 2006. No mistaking what it was since i am a nature photographer who has travelled across asia and africa and seen big cats in the wild. My mother saw a similar cat near slough in berkshire a few years back. Her friend saw what she called a 'skinny lioness' (puma) in windsor in 2003.
My and my friend walked up some Bedfordshire country side behind my parents house when we were 13 at 3am in 2004. We got halfway up the big hill and started spooking ourselves about ghosts and weirdos. We hear rustling and stop for about 30 seconds, scared stiff but concluding it was rabbits or a fox. We took a few steps forward and then heard what sounded like a horse thudding towards our direction. We froze and out leapt a panther right in front of us. It leapt across from left to right about 5 feet in front of us. Literally like the Puma logo. I saw the teeth, not so much the body, mouth was opened wide and the teeth left a streak in the air it moved so quick. Then I heard the noise a split second later. A thunderous growl. It really was like thunder and clapped my ear drums and stunned me and my friend to the ground. We got up and run for our lives. When we got to the bottom of the hill we were shaking and laughing and crying. Ran home and woke my mother up at 5am. Rang the police and were told it wasn’t the first sighting! 100% the truth. Many don’t believe me or say I saw a fox! I know what I saw and heard. Feel quite lucky to have seen it.. and maybe to even be alive 😂 I often think what the newspapers would have been if I’d have got eaten/killed.. think it was warning me off a meal or less likely some young it had with it
I've been keeping up with this for a long time now, can't wait to give this a watch. Congrats man, well done! 👏
My dad saw a big cat down Wigmore Lane, Luton late one night whilst walking our dog. He said it was sitting in the middle of the path. The thing that he noticed the most was its size and its fluffy tail. He said it was almost like a raccoons tails and was really fluffy. Some years later myself and a few mates noticed something big walking through long grass while we were climbing and building a tree house in this old oak tree that was at the bottom of a builders yard that was half way up cockenhoe hill. We jumped out the tree and ran for our lives. Have no idea what was making the grass move it was well hidden. The grass was well over waist hieght in length.
I saw one in August last year north Lancashire. I was smoking on the doorstep and I saw a dog gallop up the field away from me across the road from me it stopped half way up the field turned to the side and dropped its head to sniff at something in the grass then I noticed it's beautiful black colour rounded head and extreamly long thin tail. I never thought to get a photo of it I just looked in awe I thought I was dreaming. Then it turned round and bound of 30-40 feet in 3 leaps before suddenly stopping and suddenly skulking and looking back at me because it realized I was watching it. But what separated it from a dog was it got down in a small bed of nettles and disappeared looking out at me every few minutes just it's round ears poking out of the nettles. I've never seen it since but I know there was one in the area but I believe it was on the move because. Of all the people venturing into rural areas durin lockdown
wow... thank you for sharing!
Just out of curiosity. What was you smoking ?
Montana resident, and wild game hunter. It's possible you have some or a breeding population of lynx, in my opinion, in the UK. The public are unlikely to notice rabbit carcasses nor are they likely to be in remote places where these cats would prefer to hunt at night.
Mountain lion/Puma? Not so likely. Your red deer population is closely monitored, so you are definitely not losing enough red deer (whose carcasses are later seen in trees- usually in the autumn when the natural leaves die back- can you imagine the British public's reaction to just one such sighting? I saw in the news the other day that residents of England called 999; and not just a few- over a 100! because it was snowing and they heard snow thunder... ) and the odd sheep is definitely not enough food to sustain a single puma over the year, nevermind a breeding colony. In Montana we get the odd wolf attack on sheep/cattle, and the wolf is often hunted down and dispatched with. If your farmers had dozens of sheep going missing over a year, they'd know about it.
A black leopard can live up to 18 years I'm told, so it's possible a released 'pet' was sighted for many years after it's release.
Just my thoughts, though!
You are likely correct, yet our red deer population isn't monitored nationwide, there are thousands roaming free all over the country near me and are good hunting and eating for humans and dogs, we also have a huge fallow deer population, roe deer, muncjack deer, wild goats, wild ponies and wild cattle! I would find it hard to believe a genetically diverse breeding population of big cat could build from a single pair released in the 1970's..... puma could sustainably hunt and survive if re-introduced tho.
We are a pretty small country in the grand scale of things, almost half the size of California. If we had a big cat population we would know about it, our woodlands are small and well travelled. As much as I would love to have some larger animals in the UK it is unlikely we have any (other than deer).
I'll start by saying the Red Deer population certainly isn't closely monitored, the herds near me aren't hunted or looked after in anyway. This maybe different in Scotland, but that's a long way from the Devon and Cornwall border. I'm an experienced outdoorsman, if you watch my channel you'll see that, I can safely say with confidence there are no leopards of any kind in the UK, I've spooked a leopard on a mountain in Africa, I'd have spooked hundreds on a small island. Nor are there pumas, mountain lions, jaguars or any of the big cat species, living wild with a breeding population.
Now, are there lynx? I have travelled Dartmoor National Park for over 35 years. This year was the first time I have ever seen a hare, in fact I saw 2. So could a small, shy feline live unseen in the British country? Yes. With the odd siting, which there are. I have a photo of a print I took just last week, my initial thoughts are it's a cat, but I can't be 100% certain
I know Montana fairly well, the last time I was there I climbed in the Bridger Mountains just out of Bozeman (October 2019) As we got on the trail from the carpark we came across bear scat, now bear are a passion of mine so I recognised it for what it was, my Montanan friends had no idea. As we climbed I filmed as I always do, I stopped to take some film of a small herd of Mustangs on a far hill, my friend pointed out a herd of elk on another hill, as I looked down at my camera something caught my eye. It was a large cinnamon bear and her cub not 250ft away. The point I am making is that even though we knew there were bear in the area 3 of us could easily have walked by 2 bears without noticing. A mountain lion had been seen on the mountain the week previously, I didn't see it nor any sign of it.
I have no doubt there are small 'big' cats in the UK, I've seen a serval myself. There certainly are none of the 'bigger' cats breeding here.
@@rialobran Getton me beauty 'andsome!😇 I've a feeling we know the same places! Dartmoor was where I skinned and cooked my first rabbit as a child(nr Foxt tor), hiking, camping and horse trekking, the light is so special there, it has my heart. Love animals and all nature, I only hunt for food but think its important to keep the old skills alive. Looking forward to watching your channel. Subscribed!👍
@@Raven-qj8xk Thank you, I know Fox Tor well, I often stay at Nuns Cross farm.
Great documentary. Caught a glimpse of what i believe to be a black Leopard last week. Didn’t have enough time to get a video but it wasn’t a domestic cat or dog. This was in County Durham.
We know snow leopards exist, we know where they live and yet it can take months and months to actually spot or film one.
Euromillions
😮
dv
😊
I've seen one, I have it on video - definitely not supernatural - just a fact - It was in Buckinghamshire, June 2022 - just after that awful heatwave we had last year. It was a very surreal experience. Of course everyone told me I was insane even though they looked at the video and could see it clearly wasn't a cat or a dog...
upload the video then, lets have a look :)
I saw one in rural Buckinghamshire in about 1999 when out riding bikes with a friend. I was about 12. It turned and looked at us and ran into the trees. It was bloody huge. 100% a big cat, because my brain immediately went “oh there’s a (domestic) cat, wonder what it’s doing out here” before registering what it was by realising the size of it. It was about twice the size of a large dog and jet black. My friend saw it too and immediately said “holy shit that’s a Panther!”. Nobody ever believed us and thought we were making it up. It was about 100ft away on the other side of a field. I looked at it for maybe 10 seconds before it ran off and got a very clear view.
Brilliant work lads. I've had a really really great time ' walking ' with you. Was so happy when I found out part 2. Bless everyone.
Send a freedom of information request to police in West Midlands about the time they had marksman on watch for panthers due to the sightings and evidence of finding sheep corpses up 6ft walls and in trees
I have too xxxx on
_My ex boyfriend used to work on a farm in essex and the farmer kept 2 pumas illegally in a barn, if people are keeping these illegally they must be escaping or being released_
Ask him if he can get me one 🐆
It is thought that quite a lot of illegal big cats are kept around the UK. Rumours that they are released sometimes, or storm damage to their cages allows them to escape, and never reported. Fortunately, they do not look to attack humans generally. They seem to see us as equals in the food chain. Never run away from one though!.
You'd be very surprised what's in the elites back gardens, all type of animals
Big black cats do exist in this country, I seen one in december in North Yorkshire. Was about 06:00 and I was on my way to the Malton Rally there was a car behind me, I seen this animal it was walking along the hedge at the side of the road. At first I thought fox, but as I got closer it was bigger than a fox. And it was jet black, daylight had just broken and the jet black colour stood out. It couldn't have been a dog as it was in the middle of nowhere and no dog walker about. The people in the car behind must of seen it as they suddenly stopped and turned left up the track where the animal went.
When I got to the rally I was speaking with a marshal who lived local to the area and I was telling him what I seen. He knew where I had seen it before I told him and he said "I see them all the time" I was shocked at how calm he was when he said that.
May pay to check out what was being sold on the docks in the 1800's. Melbourne, Australia has newspaper clips of big cats being sold on their docks, so their sightings could well be valid
100% real, I saw one in a field as I drove to Cornwall from Bristol back in 2011. It was a large black cat, I said to my mum who was driving and she told me it was just a myth! I had never heard of it and that's how I discovered the tale. She asked if it was a cow but I know 100%, it was a big black cat!
You guys are talking about big cats but you’re forgetting that there are already several big cats in the world, pumas, panthers, lions, tigers, cheetahs etc.
@@theparrishshow9803 yes but not in the UK
@@calebflatt8479 Allegedly
I've seen one, large and not unlike a Puma, in a Somerset field. I think the cold winter of 2010 reduced the population, but I also believe the authorities keep the reports and findings of roadkill, bodies etc suppressed in order not to scare the populace.
Pumas live in the Rockies/Andes/Canada in winter. Leopards in the Himalayas. And the idea of conspiracies suppressing information would be less likely if a trump wasn't already there owing rent, feeling around for cat to grab.
My friend and I were in a couple of sleeping bags sleeping in the forest near Symonds Yat. in Gloucestershire. I was asleep and she was buried in her sleeping, nothing exposed when she became aware of something near by. She heard it approach and sniff the closed sleeping, and obviously she was shitting herself. After a few moments the animal withdrew, and she found the courage to peak out her bag. She said it was a Labrador sized black cat staring back at her with yellow eyes. Thankfully I slept through the hole thing !!
That could have been the Black Leopard Clare Balding saw while recording her' Ramblings ' radio 4 show a few years back. Same part of the world.
My husband and I used to live in Surrey, right next to the green belt , surrounded by woods and countryside. There are big cats in the UK. We saw them a couple of times a year.
I have seen a lynx running along a wall around a field in Wales. A black leopard crossing the road one evening near Edenbridge in Kent. We lived on a farm a few miles away from there a few years earlier where three young redpoll were found dead next to each other. I found a big cat footprint on the same farm along a badger trail in a wood another time. and about half a mile from there my dog ran off and I heard some bloodcurdling sounds while my dog was barking in a way I had never heard. He came back to my side with such fear in his eyes and his tail between his legs. Something had scared him terribly. A couple of years ago along the A12 between Colchester and Chelmsford, I saw a dead wallaby on the side of the road, along with the usual badgers, foxes, muntjac and pheasants. I enjoyed your video and know these big cats are about.
I like the way you casually throw in dead wallaby there, even though wallabies also are not native to Britain! I'm not dismissing your anecdote though, far from it; I'm just intrigued to know where the wallaby came from. We had a small population of feral wallabies up here in the Peak District for a while back in the late seventies, presumably after the Wildlife Act, but they died out. But if wallabies are escaping/being released from somewhere, it certainly isn't a stretch of logic to imagine that other animals - such as pumas! - are getting out, too.
@@Fledhyris I've read about the peak district wallabys. I don't know where the dead one I saw came from. At Woburn I saw one outside the enclosure, so even the 'experts can't keep things safely
One of the best docs I've ever seen on the subject- lots of fun!
At some point, as an idea, could another documentary be produced from the sceptical side of things? I'm like Cookie- a huge fan of the idea, but a (very interested) doubter- it'd be good to see the sceptical side of the argument discussed in more detail sometime.
Great stuff again!
The thing spotted at 29:59 is what I spotted 35+ yrs ago. Id bought an escort mk2 and had a run to Whitby .
On the way back somewhere between Danby and the turn off to Commondale a dear shot right across the road , as I composed myself after slamming my brakes on something which I describe as a flying bear appeared in pursuit. It must have leapt 20' or so.
BTW there are thousands things like buzzards, badgers and deers and most of the 66million population have not seen one.
Met a man who cleans ovens. Dose wildlife photography as a hobby. Showed me some photos of a puma in a graveyard in Oxfordshire near Witney ways....insane
Yet to be Wildlife Manager here!
So I'm from Hungary, we do have an active Lynx population of like around a 100 individuals, they're a constant breeding population but these animals (and wild cats in general) are very secretive; and even tough our population is pretty dense they're still a rare sight to behold!
In Brittain (which in area is already larger than what we have here) I can imagine a very small population (a bit like what we have here), because these animals live in solidarity that's why you wouldn't find like 3-5 in an area but one and that one might even be a very careful one
So in short I find it pretty believable
About the jaguars and puma tough, maybe there was once a couple of them being released and slowly dying off in the years, some might even survive but the thing is that by now they're most likely gone
The one on the trail cam footage is most likely a big black cat tough, there's no doubt about it! Same for the individual hit by a car
Whilst Hungary has a not so different landscape to the UK i think the biggest flaw in this theory is population density around 6-7 times Hungary for only around 2.5 x the landmass. Personally i dont believe a population of lynx could sustain themselves
100% out there .seen with my own eyes when out fishing. It was a black leopard no more then 20ft away in the corn field chasing a rabbit .the same cat was spotted agane a few weeks later .it is one of them things you don't really believe it till you see it yourself.
I saw a lynx back in 2004 , came out of some woodland in Lympne in Kent . It saw me , froze for a moment and then slinked back through the fence into the woods . I could estimate its size by the fence posts . What really struck me was what a beautiful face it had but what stumpy legs . Round about that time there were several sightings on the nearby Romney Marshes
Lynx are known to be native to the UK
During the 90s isaw ablack panther on Dartmoor above buckfastleigh and my girlfriend was walking down to buckfast through Kingswood and saw one with 2 kits on the path she turned around and went back home
Interesting documentary lads.
It was interesting for me looking at the kills, I've suspected a large cat in my local area for sometime, and have found two kills, a deer with it's back end missing, and a sheep, which looked identical to the one shown here, with it's innards and rib catch missing. I've also seen a large golden beast chasing deer in the long grass, my husband and I initially thought it was a large dog, but agreed it's movements didn't appear dog like at all, it had no bounce.
You've inspired me to set up deer cams ;)
Great video guys. Really well made. I have some anecdotal “evidence “. In the mid 80s, in a field west of the motorway between Godalming and Guildford, I saw a large black cat. It was walking slowly and at first I thought it was a dog, but then I realised it was a large cat by the way it moved. I was in a moving car, so I only saw if for five to ten seconds . I gave up recounting this story years ago as I soon realised nobody believed me. I know what I saw though. It was 100% a leopard sized black cat.
The Surrey panther!
So you saw a leopard near Godlaming , bollocks
Really enjoyed watching this. Keep up the good work! Great evidence found. I live by Cannock Chase where there were rumours of big cats but not heard of anything for ages.
last one i saw was about 30 years ago, sitting by the side of a country road. pulled up and got out and he loped off. the most distinct things were the eyes caught in the headlights, far larger build than any domestic cat but the most distinct part of its appearance was the thick heavy tail. When i told local game keeper and his brothers they weren't phased at all and said they had seen the 'puma' multiple times. About 50 odd years ago i saw a similar large cat leaping up into a hay barn and that was about 300 mls away from the second sighting. ps over the last couple of years reasonably local to my second sighting i have come across the remains of two separate fresh deer carcasses, one just the head the other the head and neck vertebrae. Both of these were miles from any publlc roads so in my opinion were not the remains of road kill.
What a great docu' esp with all the renewed interest...brilliant work here.
There are definitely big cats out there I live on a farm and about 8-9 years ago we had a dead chicken on the lawn that had been completely stripped, some might say a fox but I've seen fox kills and it wasn't a fox, the same night my mum heard what she described as a raw so I played her the sound of a black panther and straight away she said that was it. The other thing was footprints the stride length was 4ft walking what ever it was had been chasing something properly the chicken and when it was running the stride length was 6foot. At the time we had a rottweiler and we compared her feet too the foot prints and it was more than double her print. Definitely something weather there are breeding pairs or not. I have also seen a large cat print up in Scotland just out side Dundee.
Go back to about 1986. So this would have been 10 years after the 1976 change to the regulations and law on keeping these exotic, dangerous pets.
I was 25. It was about 00:30hrs and it was a warm, early Autumn night. I was driving home in Worcestershire, heading to Warwickshire where I lived. I was in my MG Midget with the roof down because it was such a lovely night.
In a small Worcestershire village, I made a righthand turn and was driving out of this village when I noticed that the car's headlights had picked up some animal running along the middle of the road. It was dark, black/brown in colour and larger than an Alsatian. I was only 50 or 60 yards from it and for a split second, it stopped running and turned to look at me. I can still see it's yellow eyes. Then it ran to the left of me and into the high hedging where there was a gate, and vanished.
But was it a _Big Cat_ or not? All I can say is this.
It was 100% not a dog. I've had an Alsatian and other dogs and other family members have had other dogs including Labradors and this was not dog like.
It was very _feline_ in it's movements and appearance. Those yellow eyes.
But spookiest of all was this.
I can still recall that the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I can't explain why. It was almost like a primal instinct of humans when they suddenly and unexpectantly came into contact with a large predator.
I'm not saying it was a _Big Cat,_ but I know what it wasn't and I know the effect it had on me.
I’ve had the same, I think you know it was a cat. First thing happened with me was all my hairs as it stared at me…🥶🥶🥶
A great recollection of the night and experience you had. It obviously had a big impression on your life to remember it so clearly after all those years. I had a clear sighting of a Black Leopard or, as i referred to it at the time, Panther, 21 years ago. Broad daylight, sunny conditions and those yellow staring eyes!!. Yes, i had the hairs stand up too!. On a visit to an Aunt & Uncle living in Worcestershire, a few miles north of Evesham, i told them of my experience. To my astonishment they said they often saw Black "Panthers ", usually very early mornings, and even with Cubs on at least one occasion. Also they had a large tree opposite their house, about 70 yards away, where the cat would often be seen sleeping across a branch during the day!. They lived on the edge of fields in a very rural area.
@@edwardtreadwell3859 Great story. And in some way, scary too.
52° 5'40.34"N
1°53'41.90"W
Put that into google Earth. That's where _MY_ sighting was. The building's on the left were not there then 8-))...
@@jeffheineken6709 It's the _hairs on the back of the neck_ thing. 8-((... Such a primal reaction to danger.
fantastic!!!!!Really good guys!!!!i think it sums up everything about this urban legend.Keep up the good work!!!!
Watching this now because yesterday my partner and l saw what we believe was a puma in the field behind where l live in Clearwell Gloucestershire. I have only lived here since beggining of Lockdown and have only found out since yesterday that they have been seen in the very close proximity in recent years.
I live near the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and there have been a few sightings, one by someone I know (this was many years ago). I've never seen anything but do believe they are there. They have been sighted near Hartpury, Gloucestershire too.
Enjoyable film - thanks!
I enjoyed that. It would have been interesting to look at evidence of big cat escapes from private and public collections relating to the sightings. The general frequency of such escapes, whether the animals are recovered and how long they were at large would have been interesting too. Having said all that, it was a well put together programme that I thought was well balanced.
I live in Norfolk never seen one, have tracked them in soft ground and found scat. My next door neighbor saw one very local, she may be right I could not say but the following day my wife walking past the same spot said our spaniel glued himself to her side [very unlike him] became wild eyed and furtive. Not exactly convincing I know, might help if I tell you I grew up in the African bush and know the difference between cats and dogs tracks and scats.
I have found what seemed to be perfect puma prints both near Worstead and Happisburgh.
i lived in Cairnie by Huntley (aberdeenshire) in the 90's. There was a cat tracked on the local Tv news it was like a cool thing to see everynight as they tracked it straight towards us. The damn thing came straight through our croft. Scared the livestock, my dog and me. something I'll never forget..
The outtakes were hysterical 😆😆 great documentary. I have seen a mountain lion near my rural home. I have recently watched Ross Kemp: Britain's Tiger Kings, you would not believe how easy it is to get your hands on a big cat despite the dangerous animal act. I believe it was a pet once as mountain lions are popular exotic pets.
There’s reports of farmers having illegal big cats, so there’s no doubt some have escaped over time
im a regular camper hiker i did not believe these story's as iv spent a lot of time in remote woods and hills, seen few random things but could be explained. 3 years ago in Yorkshire we was camping and early hours they was some kind of big cat like prowling round the camp it was next to my tent and woke me up, the dog i was with was shacking in fear and this was a brave dog. i was petrified and froze in the tent i know it was not a dog, me and my friend finally started shouting and and screaming banging pans, we heard it growling not like a dog but a cat like, after some time we got out the tent to see a big cat like animal walking away i never been back there or camp in the wild again
what random things ? just curious
Well if you dont believe it after what you have described, when will you believe it? When one is chewing on your foot? 😂
@@richarddavis9966 lol iv started to believe thats why im not going back their
@@jb6368 m8t iv herd animal noises iv not herd before in my life, seen dead deer riped apart and the guts was gone but the rest was still there dont know what english wild animal could do that, seen a lot of random lights in sky and stuff. most of the animal experiences all happen around a town called ilkley in Yorkshire. have u had any experiences
@@ambientdisposition7380 i think id have to go back in the day and have a good look round, id have to know what it was lol.
Brilliant lads I've been looking forward to this since to you dropped the trailer and the documentary didn't disappoint
when i was a kid, maybe 5 or 6, i remember ever so clearly. i was walking down to my grandparents house in a very quite area because my dad and i had just got back from a long journey. my dad got out the van and walked down to the house to pick up our dog and i shut the gate behind him, i cane down probably around a minute or two after him and saw these wide pair of yellow eyes at least at my head height at the time from about 15ft away staring at my and i just ran and went inside as the door wasnt far. my dad only about a year before that had watched a large leopard like cat from inside his van walking at the top of the drive, and for years after my experience i was terrified of walking in the dark on my own
Excellent documentary. The footage near the end of something chasing the deer was very intriguing. I would have liked to see some experts clean up and analyze that footage. I live in South Florida just outside The Everglades and have gone exploring and filming in there for many years. My dream has always been to encounter a Florida Panther. I finally happened across a mother and cub about a year and a half ago but unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready. There are certain places they are known to inhabit and they constantly get captured on trail cams yet in person sightings are very rare. They are extremely illusive. I believe there is a decent chance that there may be a few wild big cats in the UK however I can't imagine so many people would have seen them. And the fact that people usually report black panthers is very telling.
I'm open to the idea of big cats living in the UK but in that video don't you think it's just deer chasing another deer?
@@joebees21Definitely not. It's absolutely a cat, you can see the tail as it turns right to go around and past a tree. It is NOT a deer, that much is definite.
Florida Panther: elusive
British Panther/puma etc: illusive
Interesting that Benjamin said he never heard of any more sightings past 2010 when in 2012-2016 there were sightings in Cornwall including a foal that got killed in 2016 and partially eaten with all the marks of a big cat and there were big cat prints in the mud of the field and around the dead foal. The local police said it was "wild dogs" which was of course bull because people from Newquay zoo checked it out and said it was definitely a big cat. There hasn't been any (or any that was deemed news worthy) sightings since then though. Basically they come and go and occasionally take the odd livestock which is how it's always been. A dead deer was also found in Tehidy woods near Portreath up in a tree although I heard nothing else about that case.
Interesting that the women after Benjamins information says there's little physical evidence when there's been plenty. There's even accounts of droppings being found, sent off to the government only for the reply to be dog droppings. A zoo then sent their own leopard droppings to the government to see what the result would be. Same result...dog droppings. It's a cover up.
You are absolutely right about it being a cover up. The authorities are well aware of these animals but seem to be under orders to deny everything. Cats killed on our roads are swiftly collected up and recorded as 'dogs ' when reported.
Haha What government has a big cat scat identification department? You don't send it to a government... Why didn't they send the first sample to the zoo, who could have checked it out themselves...?
@@SueMyChin They did give it to the zoo first and the conclusion was leopard. Zoo even sent their own leopards scat to the government and the result was "domestic cat/dog".
@@nuke2099 What government? There is no government department for identifying cat crap.
@@SueMyChin He this was what was mentioned in a documentary in the 90's. It is what it is.
Amazing job, I'm so glad someone is making contemporary big cat Uk stuff.
Excellent film thanks so much for sharing ❤
Perhaps 22-23 years ago I was fishing boscathnoe reservoir, Cornwall, winter time, as it was just getting light so probably 7:30ish, my friend and I seen a big cat walking up a hedge line for around 50 yards before jumping over the hedge into the next field and out of sight. Definitely puma like in appearance
Lots of exotic pets where set free when the law on keeping them changed.
That was 45 years ago
And yet there is no reports of finding there bones?
@@stacileharve7084 ye more time to breed, makes more sense
I worked night shifts so I found it hard to sleep on my nights off.It was a stifling summers night I had swung open the casement upstairs windows & was just leaning out.Between 3-4 am I saw a jet black animal come up & stand in the middle of the road.It looked about the size of a our family black Labrador, I thought it odd it didn’t notice me starring down at it.Leaning out further under the street light I could see it distinctly had the face of a cat & more the body shape of a cat!! I thought wow they have bloody big Tom cats in London.I did see it again same time of night, as a child my brother was a volunteer at the Zoo I went with him visiting at the Zoo a lot.It reminded me distinctly of a black Jaguar that was housed there but not so large.Within a week in the local paper in South London there was a report about several sightings of the self same animal I had seen.Reports speculated it was living on the abandoned railway tracks locally.Now this really got to me because the direction this animal came from was the road that ran down from our house to the unused tracks in question!! This was in 1987 in South London, I think realistically it was an exotic pet dumped & was fending for itself, no one was on the overgrown unused tracks plenty of cover & safety & at the most quiet time of the night it was out hunting & just sauntering about!!
Loved the doc, In Smarden, tenterden Rolvenden, Kent in the late 90s 2000s there was lots of sighting, photo's of little and big cats. Allegadly a local private collector lost his collection in Smarden area after a fence down, etc. let free? there were lots of sightings for a few years. I think these cats can only live for a bit unfortunately in uk environment with no mate. But wonderful. Are wild cats will find there way back one day. Beautful predators.
Good job guys. I can tell you poured a lot into this.
😂
me and my mate seen what we both thought was a black cat back in the 90's, it was big, we seen it dart across a path and take off up a slope and vanished into thick bush near enough in front of us, it was jet black and far too fast to be a dog, this was near loch Lomond in Scotland around 1995.
Fantastic documentary lads, It gives a lot to think about on both sides of the argument, Thank You.
I came across a large black panther/puma? While cycling in Derbyshire on 9th Sugust 23 5am. It stopped , looked at me and then just walked off. Terrifying.
I'm very certain I've seen one, on the outskirts of gloucester, gloucestershire, in the rural areas, about 10 years ago, about 10pm, we double took, and slowed right down to see what it was, this 'thing' was definitely cat like.
Snap, seen one in the forest of Dean! Never told a soul but was 100% certain.
@Jonathan Healey I definitely don't think there's a breeding Group.of them, just odd ones
@@UKFishingFinesse im sure of the
I've only been following this topic for a few days, since I saw what I thought might have been a black panther in Hampshire. I have no doubt of its size, from 1.0-1.5m body length, because of a roe deer nearby. I can't be sure of its identity though, because it was quite a distance away. The animal that closest fits the description of what I saw was a black panther (i.e. melanistic leopard). Could it have been an escapee? Of course. No evidence of breeding from my sighting, though other people have reported seeing cubs. The oddest feature of the sightings for me though is something that was briefly mentioned in this excellent film: why are none of the leopards in Britain ever spotted?
I saw an adult black panther outside Malton N.Yorkshire. I was in a Renault 11. It was as long as the car is wide. Vanished into a ditch. Now it's Dogman everywhere. Photos are on my Facebook page and UA-cam space.
I LIVE NEAR CANNOCK CHASE AND WHEN I WAS A KID I FOUND HALF A DEAD DEER UP A TREE THE TREE WAS ALL SCRATCHED UP AT THE BOTTOM THAT WAS IN THE 70s
It's amazing how that old chap manages to have an interest because of sightings since 1984 36 years ago yet all he has as evidence is half eaten animals.
So now the cat looking like dead animal on the road. He goes on about getting pictures and states a four foot long tail why is this not show in the photo and why does he not have a picture of the whole body to show it's true size say by placing something next to it. After all he states he takes the picture why not more. I would of takes loads. A dead animal ie a normal cat can be made to look large in photos and white lines vary so again why no location of the road so the lines can be verified in size.
I know big cats exist but his story's seem a bit far fetched from truth and more his own mind.
Foxes also eat dead animals in the same way when they find a dead animal.
Badgers can bite through ribs if they want to..
another point is if you saw a Cat the first time,surely he would have taken a camera on all the others and captured the Cat with Cubs....
yes, thought it was absolute nonsense when he said the white lines were '17cm military lines' like what does that even mean. look at the size of the road surface chunks aswell; doesn't look like 17cm to me :/
Agreed pictures taken to fit a narrative. And 0 understanding of our native wildlife in regards to what happens to a carcass over time
@@mononokewolf22 Not sure about the rest of what you said Katie but I think he means runway lines from possibly an air base( military lines!)!
@@janecheshire5504 But he wasn't on an airbase, Jane. This is a standard road marking. This idea of 'military lines' is silly.
I seen a great big cat on the hillside just outside of culloden battlefield in the Scottish highlands. They do exist in our countryside.
Excellent video guys, keep up the good work!
Really enjoyed this doc
Thanks guys.