Big Cats of Britain - Grizzly Documentary
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- Опубліковано 14 бер 2019
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Ever felt like you're you being watched when out and about in the countryside?
Take a look at our recent short documentary - Big Cats of Britain. Mr. Tiddles might not be the only feline out there...
If you have an opinion, please contribute to the conversation in the comments section.
Thanks and please subscribe to support the channel :)
The Grizzly Team. - Фільми й анімація
I once got mauled by a cougar.
Janice 52 from Wigan
That’s terrible
@@maxkeane2545 its left me scared for life
lee locker was it a wild animal and where abouts did it happen it’s so sad to hear
Curse of the snaggletooth
lee locker where?
There are few cougars living near me!
I see cubs every time I go to see family in Devon
Are they tame or wild lol
Ones a bit timid!...the other 2 are proper wild...almost dangerous...lmao
@@therickpound the wild ones are best lol
Why dont u have any pics
I keep getting local cougars popping up in my area
Where abouts just curious
Yeah well I farted and it stank
Cellar Door You’ve got a dirty mind because I wrote it as a sarcastic comment and forgot ads pop up saying that
I was working away at a house on exmoor back in the 1990s . The house owner told me his daughter's who kept horses, had witnessed large black leopards on many occasions. Usually in the early morning when they were tending the horses. He was very sincere and I have no reason to doubt his account.
Back in 2009 I was roughly 300 foot away from a black panther on a logging road 4 miles outside Llandovery in mid Wales. It was stood sideways to me and I could not believe how big it was.
Unfortunately no photograph because I was too scared to move. Most people would not believe there could be animals like this wandering around wild in the countryside.
It stood there for over five seconds until it walked into the woodland. Best thing I’ve ever seen in the UK.
James Stotty I’ve seen one twice in the same area 17 years apart. They are most definitely out there.
Those are called "house cats" Einstein
@@eviljoel 😅 ha ha...
There must have been a few black panthers around cus I saw a black panther in Northamptonshire about 5 years ago
@@trevor5485 Which area of Northamptonshire , without giving the place away?
"I knew it was a puma that I saw......because it made me puma pants....................😅
skunksmoker14 LOL
Brilliant!!!!
:-DDD !!!
loooool
Har Hardy har har
Bude in Cornwall in the early 2000s was a hot bed for sightings, there hasn’t been any for a long time here but a footprint was discovered and proven to be that of a panther very close to Bude.
My sister was about to enter a cliff path through a gate and she seen a huge black animal running like a big cat with a long black tail, safe to say she ran to the car and disappeared
the comments on this make the video 100x better 😂
@Sandcastle • I read that just at the moment 2:07
I saw a lion in Scotland once. It was in a selection box.
🥁😂
I'm a South African, used to live in Cornwall in the mid to late 90's, We heard a lot of stories about the beast of Bodmin moor, one misty morning while harvesting mushrooms (a story for another day) on Bodmin moor we , as a group of 5, two English girls and 3 South African men saw a leopard in a tree. Absolutely no doubt. Leopards are highly reclusive and even in places like the Okavango Delta it is rare to see one, they are there in the south west for sure, we also found a few prints and faeces. They can be living in your back yard and you wouldn't know it until your pets went AWOL. No real threat to people, they will disappear before confronting
I know this might sound crazy but I just saw a black leopard this evening out of a train window 4/9/22 around 18:30pm between grateley and Salisbury I was heading from Andover in Hampshire to Salisbury it was walking along the hedgerow I got a very good veiw of the leopard. It had about a 3ft long thick black tail, long fishing line type shiny whiskers boney shoulder blades and trust me I’m not a bloke to make things up I was very close to the animal so I could see the size of this beautiful creature I had to do a double take as I thought I was seeing things lol unfortunately I couldn’t get a picture as the train was moving to fast to snap it these lovely leopards are definitely here in our countryside I just hope we all look after and protect this rare cat I’m just so glad I got to see this beautiful leopard because I doubt I’ll ever see a second one in my life time.
I used to live in Lypne Kent a very small village at the time . I was the volunteer church gardener back then . One day I saw the most amazing beautiful cat walk into the field below me . I was able to judge it's height against a farm fence . Once home I Googled ' beautiful cat face but short stumpy legs ' Picture came up of a Northern European Lynx !! Apparently Lynx have been unknown here in the UK for a very long time .
Theres apparently a lot in scotland but no one sees them
That was port Lympne zoo!!
I saw a panther 25 years ago in Scotland calmly walking up the side of a hill alongside a drystone wall. Unmistakable it definitely was a big black cat. There definitely out there and all over the country.
THere has never been a black cougar nor black Panthers brought to England as pets.
No you didn't
I saw a black panther in Northamptonshire about 6 years ago and that’s right in the middle of the country, so I agree they are all over the place, just in the shadows
sure you did bud, sure..
@@andrewa9694 This is an idiotic statement. There are more than 50,000 exotic big cats in America kept as pets. I am obviously not counting big cats native to North America. The ones raised as pets too long don’t usually make it very long.
As a kid I could’ve sworn that I saw a large black cat jump up a tree as I was running through this field by my house. It scared/intrigued me so much I wrote to the mayor of the area I lived lol, they brushed it off but till this day I still wonder what it was
Yo that was me lool why u snitching
I know what I saw and nothing will make me think otherwise ..it was many years ago driving along a dual carriage way in the early hours ..An extremely large , what I believe to be a panther, leaped over the central barrier in the full glare of my headlights and went across the road then disappeared into the fields!!
I saw a unicorn fornicating with mermaid just outside Hartlepool. It was Halloween in a remote car park.
Think they was dogs mate 😂👌🏼
Aaron Davies it’s true, I know what I saw and don’t need to research any further. I am certain it was a unicorn and mermaid.
😂😂😂😂😂
Tommy T 😂
@Aaron Davies yes he's what's wrong with this world,not believing a bunch of liars and virgins who want to believe pumas and fucking jaguars have been predating and breeding in Gloucestershire for thirty years without one solid bit of evidence!😂😂
I saw the Helensburgh panther about 6 years ago. I spotted a black cat in the distance, down the rail track and decided to watch it. I needed to stop and rest anyway. It slowly made its way towards the bridge is was standing on. The first time I saw it side-on, when it crossed the tracks 150m aprox from me, I realised that maybe it's not just some farm cat. It continued to get closer until eventually I was looking down on it at a distance of about 25m. What a creature! It's glossy black fur was beautiful. The way it moved was graceful and powerful. I'm blessed to have seen it. It was about the size of a labrador. You definitely see bigger ones at the zoo, but then they get fed better, don't they.
Could only have been a leopard or jaguar, which are alot bigger than a labrador. Do I say you're talking bollocks
100% they are out there, confirmed sightings in Forest of Dean by Forestry Commission workers counting deer populations, it's on record with the Government, easy to find on the net. Ray Mears has said he's seen 3 in the UK, if Ray says they are about then that's good enough for me.
You may laugh but Iv seen one of these large cats quite recently , it was a Black leopard looking cat , it was daylight it walked through a field with lambs in it and hid in a bush , I tried to photograph it but couldnt see anything on the photo.Its quite common knowledge here that these animals are walking amongst us .
I live in a residential area and I saw a large black cat - panther.
It scaled up a tree so I moved quickly away I then heard a loud crack and a large branch had snapped due to the weight of the cat and landed in the middle of the road.
Hi there, we’re currently producing a new documentary on this subject and we would love to hear about your sighting via a recorded phone call. This can be completely anonymous or you can choose to be credited at the end of the film. The phone call would take no longer than 10 mins. Is this something you would be interested in? If so, please email me at mike@grizzly.co.uk. Thanks, Mike :)
20 years ago a listener phoned BBC Radio 4 news and gave a live commentary on a big cat walking along a footpath near Pagham Harbour, Sussex. I kept chickens and ducks nearby and a couple of weeks later I had four chickens taken from a run without a feather left behind. There was a hole dug under the fence but there were enormous paw prints in the mud. I was convinced it was a big cat who took them as foxes cause mayhem. Should have got an animal expert to check the paw prints.
🤡🤡🤡🤡
@@williecosgrove you are
@@yamahajog04
I walked my dogs early morning a few weeks back at Moyles Court. In the wooded area I spotted a large black cat. Was moving very fast in the tree line, & my brain didn't compute what I was seeing until it had gone. Big cats are deffo out there!
No you didn't.
I've been seeing a Cougar quite regularly for a few years now. Great shag
The comments are hilarious and 6 years ago I may have joined in ...... wish I never saw that large black cat late in the summer evening walk across a gold grass feild at the back of my English country side home .... I watched it prowl and walk the tree line , and no body believes u they think ur mad 🤦♀️
Saw one out lamping one night on the edge of exmoor, been shooting for years ...everyone laughs but I knew what I saw
I'm sitting here watching this video in the mountains of Colorado where I have lived my whole life off and on I've never seen a large cat here, but we know as a fact that they're everywhere!
so it could be that you're just not seeing them and they're really there....
It doesn't take long for released animals to start a breeding population ,ask Florida about their pythons!
@Steve Whiting they really generally do not go after people and if they ever do stand your ground try to make yourself look as big as possible ,
I do know that here in North America , there are more people killed by Moose each year!
than by big cats... so don't lose too much sleep. Best intent ,take care..
@Steve Whiting wow!👍
I've been intouch with keele university last year when I encountered a leopard on the north face of Ben nevis in deep snow on our way up to the cmd route. I photographed fresh leopard prints in the snow as big as my hand. I was told by 2 experts it's the hind feet of a fully grown leopard.
@chief Mcnasty Yes of course if you have email I can send you the same pictures I sent to Keele and Jonathan mcgowan.
But you can't post the photos on UA-cam? What's that smell.....???
They haven’t caused any trouble, so why not do the unthinkable and leave them alone.
I live in Colorado, we have several mountain lion attacks a year, but they're usually just on children or people going hiking so no one really minds.
Oi. They aren't doing any harm to them.
Yes i agree with you, let them be, they doing no harm.
@@scottcantdance804 well thats why the average American has two kids, never know when you need to sacrifice one lol 😜😂😂
@@peterweeks2831 they could snatch a child out of a park and they run 30 mph or more....they need to be shot
I’ve spotted a huge black cat up the racecourse in Oswestry Shropshire! I was on my bike on the downhill section and in the woods I saw the big cat as I was walking back up the hill! I ran as fast as I could because I knew what it was! A big black panther 😳it’s been spotted a few times in the last four years or so........I spotted it around 2012 🤙🏻
Same, 2012-2013 in Northamptonshire
My dad saw a panther/black leapord in the new forest replacing a water main. About 97-99 I can't remember. He said it was quite old looking very relaxed like it had been domesticated. 3 other workers sat there watching it. Guessing a released pet.
There have been lots of sightings of both pumas and black 'panthers' in the New Forest. Where was this one?
I once was stalked by a cougar in the country suburban area of south england. She followed me all night and I even climbed a roof of a petrol station to try and buy time to call a taxi. Calling them again to find out how long it would be, i was told that it had been cancelled, to my confusion and terror. After booking another, i went to the edge of the roof to see if the cougar was still there, and as soon as she saw me, she begged for me to come down, back to her place and she would do anything I want. I continued to decline her offer.
Back in the mid 1970s I saw a man in Southport walking along with a black leopard on a lead. I just remember thinking how strong the chain looked that was its lead. Being a lad then I thought nowt of it and forgot about it.
in my area my dad and someone used to take his 3 lions for a walk and when they instituted the law thatyou cant keep them they let all of them out and there was pions tigers panthers and cougar
Southport, Lancashire?
Because there have been big cat sightings in the countryside around that area like, Parbold, Rufford, and such
My grandma saw someone get a black leopard out of a van and walk it down the street on a chain in Manchester. This was probably in the 70s-80s not sure though
I live Plymouth uk, I have seen 2 separate pumas at 2 different places on Dartmoor, i actually had a photo of its paw print, which i took to a well known Plymouth bigcat watcher / observer, who confirmed it to be from a young male puma. This is what eventually led to me working with bigcats and wolves at a wildlife park. They are out there
shapumawildcat What is YOUR opinion on these big cats in the UK? 👍 or 👎?
I really don’t doubt it, their in Australia to hundreds of people of seen them in Victoria
My mate Arty right, he seen em up by Shaugh Prior and that. Says they were eatin like sheep’s and that but I don’t believe em mate cos he said they were tame and that. Can’t make up my mind and that. Would do you think
That’s my mate Arty in disguise you old tinker and that. Lives above the ship inn in the Barbican. No kidding me they daft fucker. Pint one day Arty ?
I’m a farmer near Princetown, Dartmoor. I keep sheep just like my dad and his dad did. Never have I seen or saw any signs of a big cat and neither did my dad but my grandad said there was a small amount released many years ago that were pets but died out quickly. I’m 46 and spend every day on the moors, if there was big cats about I’d have seen them!
A while back I thought I might have seen something that looked like a cheetah.
Asda, 24 hour shopping centre, crisp aisle.
About 8 years ago I saw a big black cat in the countryside on the south coast ..I was working on a barn roof and at first I thought it was a dog but it didn’t move like a dog..it’s shoulder blades moved like a cat..I had no phone on me to take a picture..but as it was moving through extremely over long grass you could clearly see the head and shoulders above the grass..about an hour later I went down for lunch And walked to the spot where I had seen it ..I’m 5 feet 9 and stood in the grass which came way over my knee which means the head of this cat or whatever it was would of come up roughly to just below my waist..I asked the customer who I was working for if he or any neighbours had a Black dog and he said no..I told him what I saw and he wasn’t surprised ..the reaction I got from my freinds when I told them though was different ..you can imagine how hard they laughed when I said I saw a cat that came up to roughly below my waist...I could be wrong but I know the difference between how a cat and dog moves..again it was how the shoulder blades moved that struck me as odd..ah well who knows?
I saw a Puma in Leeds
It was in sports direct
Knew this was coming.
🤣
Fuck me bro. The shithole i live in, people get terrored for wearing puma.
Theres literally thousands of puma trackies in Leeds 😂
I saw 1 just off the m62 near Oldham
I live in the UK and was almost killed by a cougar when I was 17. She tied me to the bed and rid me like a pony. Still have the scars on my back.
One curious as to how she scared your back if you were tied to the bed and she was riding you like a pony she got 10 foot arms or Sumet 😂
I saw a black panther 20 years ago in Cambridgeshire. They are out there. Great doco!!
Matt, that amazing. I too was really close to it. My mate and I, on his 50cc motorbike, surprised it coming from around a bend on a country road. It was on the grass verge looking right at us, from about 10 foot away. It then bounded away. How did you see it that close? I’m intrigued.
@@mattjarrett7274 Awesome. That's pretty scary. I'd of crapped myself!! ha!
@@mattjarrett7274, What's that smell???? It's certainly not big cat shit!
I saw a panther West Norfolk coast last year. On common land. I heard it first. Took a look round a hedge it just layed there in the sun. Heard again it in autumn woodland sounded above us in the trees. Freaked my kids right out.
@@tw15t3dup5 You drink too much fella.
15 years ago I came upon 2 mountain lions whilst out hunting rabbits one night in a field we were just about to lamp near the village of lamington in Lanarkshire I tracked them through 2 large fields as they were fleeing from us we got to see them both as the lay on the side of a hill for 10 mins watching us from about half mile away it was amazing to see this I have been hunting the countryside most of my life and that was the first time I had ever seen them the area is huge with tinto hill on one side and miles and miles of remote moors on the other side perfect for them to roam as they please full of white or mountain hares so no one will ever tell me there not out there hunting along side us out of site there were 4 of us that night in question this was a pair of puma cougar or mountain lion not black cats I truly believe they are a breeding pair hunting together that night it was in summer just before the lambs were dew to be born that's why we became aware they were in the field they passed through a field full of sheep and caused them all to flea the sheep were all over the place up ended as they must have scatter every were we could hear them bleating like mad I knew somit was not rite when I turned the lamp on it was carnage in the field best allways be safe and go out in those areas with company
The amount of wild deer in the UK is staggering and more than enough to support leopards.
I was in the Forest of Dean a couple of years ago and heard the very same, blood curdling, rolling growl that the black leopard makes in this video, about 10 feet away from me. I slowly backed away without turning around, to about 50 feet away, and watched the spot I'd heard the growl coming from, for about 30 minutes but didn't see anything, or hear another sound.
There is no mistaking that sound. It was not a wid boar, common in the forest, and whose vocalizations I'm very familiar with. Without doubt it was a big cat, a very big cat.
There are reports of a very big black cat in the Forest of Dean from a number of people. It seems that this specimen is bigger than the usual panthers spotted around the UK.
I was walking along a country/woodland walkway, stopped to sit at a bench and heard a the same growl as you describe, very close to me in the bushes/treeline, then the unmistakable roar of a Puma/mountain lion. Safe to say I shit my pants and promptly got out of there (walking sideways not running 😂) nobody believed me at all, but I know what I heard...didn't see it, but it was 100% a puma from the gutteral growl and then high pitched roar it made.
Thanks for a good overview. I watched because I think I probably saw a black panther in Hampshire this week, and have been looking round for evidence as to how common they might be. (I've reported it to the British Big Cats Society BTW.)
I also seen it tonight In grately Hampshire out of a train window
@@robbie7298 Interesting! Quite a few sightings have been from trains.
@@anotherfreediver3639 probably because they are fast and it only gives you a second to the views the animal- therefore your brain has less information to work on and therefore your memory is exaggerated.
@@Just_shush_now What a load of rubbish.
They are often seen from trains. In fact there are so many reports now, thousands of people have seen them. And the majority don't report their sightings!.
@@Just_shush_now In some cases, yes, but not in all. However, nearly half of all sightings are by people out walking, and there the sightings often last a minute or more.
There's a black panther living near me it regularly comes round for tea once i was walking and it decided to blindfold me take me to its big cat lair i went in and to my surprise they could speak English!! There was about 10 cats thier with about 25 kittens i was so surprised they said they only showed me their secrets because i invited some of them over for tea then they blindfolded me again and apologised and explained that for security reasons they couldn't let anyone know where their lair was.
Finally - an honest comment.
I had a encounter with a gray lynx type cat in huddersfield. 2005 ish. Watching me from the woods at the back of my house. Just been out to get the rugrats in for dinner. Peeping from behind a big tree. Blinked and it had gone.
A colleague and I saw a black panther walk past our works vehicle at 2am on the Broadlands estate in 2006.
I’ve seen a wild Lynx about 15 years ago in Burnam Beeches nature reserve, was at 1:00 am and I remember it because it had what looked like a cross / X at the top of its ears like it was a snow leopard or something.. only just realised now that they were rare.. was in early 20s and thought it was a normal thing in forests etc
I have seen a Eurasian Lynx in the Chiltern Hills by Wendover. Thought it was a fox at first but the tufts of hair on the ears give it away. Literally like winning the lottery seeing one...
There have been numerous sightings of pumas/ leopards in various parts of Cannock chase
Hopefully they stay Elusive because if it comes out they live here humans will do what we do best and destroy them
There'll be someone who wants to shoot one to prove they exist.
@@JesusChrist-ir1td Yh but I’ll allowing if there killing live stock but other then that idk
I do believe there was/is a black panther in the Brough area of Hull as I saw one about 14 years ago. We were looking for a flat & I looked out of the window & saw a large black cat (way bigger than a domestic cat, more like an Alsatian size) lurking in the undergrowth eyeing up the sheep in the field. It was not a dog as it moved like a cat & the end of its tail was rounded. Convinced it was a black panther. Wish I had filmed it.
In around 1987 I was learning to drive on the forestry tracks where I lived in Mid Wales next to the Epynt military range and a full size black Panther walked out of the wood up to the car. I sat there as its head was over the bonnet of the car, it stood there for about 30 seconds looking straight at me from aprox 2meters (car bonnet) it then turned and walked away, I followed it in the car for about 200 yards before it disappeared back into the woods. It made me very fit cycling back at night through the forestry as i didnt hang around.
Zoo's have lost many big cats over the years . I used to go Sea Trout fishing in South Wales. Coming home at 2.30 in the morning we saw 2 on the A465 heads of the valley road. I also saw one running across a field near Sawston in Cambridgeshire at 6 O'clock in the morning. Linton Zoo just a few miles away have Lost at least one in the past. We also had Horses attack in the area, their wounds were confirmed to be made by big cats.
I've seen 2 Bob cats near caerphilly
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at trader vics ! o yeah , his hair was perfect.
A wolf is not a member of the cat family lol
@@domwaller7391 neither are those things roaming around the english countryside .
Parrmik, did a little old lady get mutilated late last night?
Little old lady got mutilated late last night, werwolves of London again.
I think I saw the same guy at that Chinese food place in SoHo, Lee Ho Fooks.
They are real. I saw a black leopard/jaguar. A relative of mine saw the same. And a family friend saw a puma. 3 separate sightings. The family friend described the animal she saw as a 'skinny lioness' which is basically a puma. She was so scared by the encounter that she has not gone for morning walks in that area since!
No you didn't.
@@juntus89 Freemason troll bot!
@@truthseeker3536 What?
My Mom and I encountered a black puma/panther near Estepona in July. We regret not reporting it. We were on an orthanological walk which was hardly used and went into a tight passage like valley surrounded by bamboo and then we heard the growl. We ran and were tracked back to the next remote Spanish village.
I’ve been in a tight passage in Spain too
100% there are big cats here and I am 200% there are pumas/mountain lions/catamount here I have seen 2 young cubs running along a Devon country road huge bushy tails up and one of the main things I noticed was the black lined white spots on the back of their ears that resemble eyes to ward off other cats 👌🏼
There have been many sightings in Wiltshire, and I myself have seen 2 big black cats, and have seen evidence of a big cat kill of a sheep.
Imagine hiking in the woods and you stop to take a crunch in the bushes because you've started crowning, and that thing was eying you up. That turd wouldn't take much persuasion 😂😂😂
Saw a documentary about UK cats some time ago. In one scene the camera was looking up from a valley floor at a large black cat sat on a dry-stone wall next to a gatepost. Didn't look all that big but suddenly a huge beast jumped up on the wall next to it. After about ten seconds both animals jumped down into the field on the far side of the wall. When the camera crew got to the location they measured the post at just over 5' high and when the film was re-run with a post of similar length to the bigger cat super imposed into the shot next to it it was short by a long way.
Can you remember what film it was?
When i was a little girl there was a knock at the door and it was a big fury stripy tiger it said excuse me im rather hungry and could he join us for tea.. long story short my whole family was massacred
NICE ONE.
R.I.P
A little girl called Damien?!? Your parents must be odd.
I've seen a lynx in Buckinghamshire about 10 years ago. I knew it was a lynx because of the distinctive ears.
The smell must've given it away!
In the mid 90,s I was driving in Hampshire towards Dorchester and a 1/4 of a mile after crossing the Stour at Little Canford at approx 5.30 in the morning when a large brown Puma like cat crossed the road in front of me in that lazy but fast way of cats. What is strange though is the fact that paw prints are not found at the sighting sites.
Live in Dorchester - have spoken to rail workers who (obviously) work up and down the southern lines. They come across half eaten carcasses etc. It seems to be common knowledge that big cats use the fences along the railway as a running trap...
aye, no doubt..fortunately these guys were particularly specific in their differentiation of remains and so on. I can't remember myself but the men i've spoken to are sure of the presence of big cats on the lines..
@Steve Whiting holy moly, i see what you're saying. Thank you! Don't forget there are folks round here that eat the roadkill.. but yes i know there have been sightings around puddletown middle school.. one personal friend having watched one from a short distance not far from there. Another mate and I have seen tiny wild boars a few times...which is nice but kind of surprising if we have these apex predators around..maybe there's some "balance" being restored to the food chain as the video suggests..
where are the photographs, hair samples, scat, kill sites, car collisions, attacks?
Very unlikely your gonna get a photo. Elusive
@@kb8729 Here in the USA we have elusive big cats in massive areas of untouched wilderness. Despite being highly elusive, they are still captured on remote cameras, hit by cars, tracked, trapped, and seen by hikers, hunters, etc. If they were there conclusive evidence would be found. Especially on such a small and densely populated island.
@@ZGADOW thank you for speaking Logic. They always say the UK have big cats, The news papers always print fake pictures, people actually believe this shit.
Salisbury museum two jun
@@kb8729 theres more than you know trail cams on game shoots are told to delete .if you have a group of people wanting to pay 10 grand for a days shooting you dont want people running all over your land trying to take photos and trying to kill it .these major estates are in a strange position do they shoot them and look after there game and dont tell no one or put it out to the world there here and have every tom dick and harry all over the land
I've wild camped in these areas for years. Not only have I not seen one, I'm mindful in places where they do live, while alive they're hard to see, think how many badgers, foxes, birds, and deer that hikers come across dead.
I get that if they're in the UK, they'd be rare, and most don't hike, but enough of us do, esp in places like the New forest or Devon.
About 10-15yrs ago, we were playing in some woods in East Kent, and we were told to leave by people in a 4x4 because of big cat sightings (very close to Windham Wildlife Park, but might be before they had big cats themselves)
I see one 20 year ago on the back roads epping . This thing was 200lb plus and huge and was sitting on the corner of the road without a care and it just wondered off into the fields. I phoned the police to report it because I thought it escaped.
I was stationed at RAF st mawgan when I was in the US Marines...we trained quite a bit in Dartmoor and Exmoor. I can tell you for shure you have puma, ( north American mountain lion)... I saw the kills, (sheep) and a couple of tracks, ( I've hunted them). Not many though, the Moors are so heavily vegetated with grasses and moss there just aren't many opportunities to leave tracks...... puma, like leopards avoid humans like the plague....and typically they will watch you move through their territory from a distance, almost like an escort....98% of the time they know where you are, long before you even have a clue that they are there...attacks are very, very rare..and are usually driven by disease, or starvation...point?? you don't really need to worry about them, they will stear clear of you!
@Steve Whiting ....nothing in particular, north American mountain lions are , very house cat like, they meow ( much deeper, raspy), they pure...and they'll kill ya if you corner one....for years dogs have been used in hunting them because they are so elusive...the dogs sniff them out and give chase, tree the cat , then the hunter shoots it....hey avoid humans, but will watch you from a distance as you move through their territory. You don't typically stumble on to one, they'll typically move out your way, yet be vary close and watch you....leopards ...don't know much about them.......sounds like your government wants to keep a lid on things so as not to cause panic people are kinda stupid like that, so ....good luck in your search.
Does anyone remember from a few years back the story of Claire Balding the BBC sports presenter, when she was doing a radio show from a forest somewhere in the UK? She said that just ahead of her she saw a big black cat cross the road. I can't remember the follow up to this.
The radio programme was Ramblings on BBC radio 4. It was near Symonds Yat, Gloucestershire. Her companion on the walk said they see it often.
I live in the Greater Boston area (Massachusetts), and Cougars/Pumas/Mountain Lions were thought to have been completely eradicated from all 6 New England (and surrounding) states well over a century ago. But a few years ago, a car hit and killed an adult Cougar on the interstate highway in southern Connecticut, of all places. Officials later traced this particular Cougar all the way back to South Dakota, a state some 1500 miles away from where it was killed. Officials also said that the Cougar was simply traveling for a mate and wound its way through a connection of state/federal forests, and apparently had gone undetected by humans until its demise on the Connecticut highway.
Cats, big and small, are some of the most adaptable animals on the planet, so it also wouldn't surprise me to learn that the UK does have a number of Big Cats living there, as well.
I see a big black cat in Hawkinge, Kent. 100yards away, strong build body keeping low, I soon put my dog on the lead and left the field lol
They ain't helping control those pesky seagulls tho are they 😂
Gull populations are worryingly decreasing over the UK. I live near a part of the coast where they haven't encountered humans feeding them and they're lovely animals; such grace and poise when flying.
@@erdmax_worrying
I definitely see a wolverine ordering hot wings in a Dixie fried chicken in Ipswich.
In the lates 90s there was multiple sightings of a big black cat round couty durham. I think it was even caught on a police dashcam if i remember right.
Love you guys great work xx
Lived in norfolk for 10 years only one time saw panther late summer
Definitely big cats in Norfolk.
Skull was found in North downs Kent. Was confirmed as a large cat.
Even more in Wales along with signs of wolves (even heard wild howls at night), you can find it google just about but UA-cam seems to knock off all the videos on it
It was from a tiger skin rug
Really interesting mini documentary my friend.
This subject matter always gets my attention.
Thank you.
I wish you rainbows.
Really well made mini-doc. Wish it was longer! Still no irrefutable evidence sadly but the zookeeper eyewitness accounts are quite credible. I just enjoy all the mystery and intrigue.
I wish I had my cam in my car when I saw a bigcat slinking across the road between Gatwick and Reigate back in 2010. It certainly wasn’t a dog by the way it slinked and far too big for a domesticated cat. I lodged the sighting with the police.
The only big cats we have in Britain are over fed pets.
I do believe your talking out you ass. Did you listen to the documentary?
Pad Man I don’t think he meant the ones that are in cages....
@@ThePiratePaddy
What documentary ?-))
Oh contrare... Large cats do indeed exist in the more wilder-rural parts of the UK. Aside from the well known Highland wild cat, feline species larger than Felis cattus (domestic cat) have been sighted and documented.
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I was once travelling a short cut though the Forestry Commission plantation at Denham Wood on the west bank of the Tavy river in Devon. (just upriver from the Tavy estuary that is in confluence with the River Tamar on the border of Devon and Cornwall), I was walking down a firebreak in the plantation at the end of which opened up to old deciduous woodland (pockets of ancient woodlands exist all around Dartmoor). There was a barbed wire fence and drainage ditch that marked the boundary of the FC land and that of the private woodland beyond.
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I noted a log placed across the ditch, just where the firebreak finished. This marked the crossing point for the old hunters pathway, that ran parallel to the course of the river Tavy (to my left). Having negotiated the fence and ditch, I was about to enter the old oak woodland when something moved ahead of me. I froze to the spot. Very slowly, a man emerged from the outline of a tree. He was a game hunter, very well camouflaged, with what looked to be a slung .22 rifle. He raised one finger to his lips to indicate to me, to not make a sound, then he pointed two fingers at his own eyes and turned and pointed in very slow movements to my right...
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Sitting on a fallen tree, that was also spanning the drainage ditch, but about 40 feet up from where I'd crossed, in classic upright cat pose and regarding the two of us with large amber eyes was the largest cat I'd ever seen outside of a zoo. Both the hunter and I just remainde rooted to the spot. Neither of daring to make a sound, whist our brains took in the scene rationalised what we were collectively observing.
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The animal was a puma for sure. Around a meter in length and stood almost as tall as a lurcher. With a fairly dark almost reddish- brown, short haired coat, with slight mottling. It regarded us at some length, then with what appeared to be a sniff of indifference, turned its head and then stood up on the log and padded off the end and into the dark interior of the conifer plantation, that I had just egressed.
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I walked over to the hunter. And we grinned at each other excitedly. He said, '' You are not going to forget today very easily are you? '' I laughed and said, I'm now a believer, for sure! '' The hunter had been sitting very still waiting for his prey - wood cock, when the sleek feline predator moved silently passed him and over to the ditch, literally seconds before I arrived at the end of the firebreak. We were both in awe that the creature actually just sat and all three of us just simply comtemplated each other. It seemed as mildly curious as we were about the encounter and probably fealt no threat from either of us.
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Just as well, for I certainly wouldn't have wanted to corner this guy.
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The Tavy valley is quite convoluted and densly lined with old woodland and thick coniferous plantations. It is rich in wildlife and game - from fish and fowel to rabbit and dear, with some sheep further up the valley. No shortage of dense cover, parts of whcih are pretty inaccessible to humans and the whole valley is peppered with old mine workings (mostly arsenic and silver), with many semi-open addits, culverts and shafts, making an ideal lair for such a solitary creature.
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Yes, large cats are alive and well in our more off-the-beaten tracts of countryside.
@@Deebz270 only one thing wrong with this story my friend is,you dont sit an wait for woodcock ,especially not with a 22 rifle,, other than that if more than one are captured then I'll be more inclined to believe, but been a hunter myself of fur,feather and fish with gun ,dogs ,ferrets ,and rod for a number of years, how like you say this fellow was hunting, how,and with what ,is fiction.
But I enjoyed reading your reply,so thanks for that.
i met that zoo keeper in exmoor zoo he told me they can smell the male and females from miles away and are trying to find mates. ive since seen a leopard on 3 separate occasions in Bath
If big Cats were confirmed here in the U.K. I'm sure a few Pricks dressed in Red on Horseback with hounds would hunt it to extinction pretty quickly.
I’ve seen a lynx cat in the uk countryside. 10m away whilst walking down a train track at stover near Heathfield. Beautiful animal but I absolutely shit myself and gave it legs
Did it not have legs before?
Very difficult as there is no such animal called a panther!
There's in fact 4 animals in the panthera family. And in fact there's an animal called Florida panther. 😉
@@rigorousrangel6394 The Florida Panther is a black cougar, a panther in south America is normally a black jaguar and in Africa it's a black leopard but any big black cat will be called a panther!
@@user-lf3wr8rh7r wrong the Florida panther is not black. And your original comment was
"Very difficult as there is no such animal called panther!".
I simply pointed out there's an animal called panther in Florida.
Now I also understand that black jaguars and leopards are referred to as black panthers but they're still leopards and jags.
There's 4 of the big cats that belong to the panthera family, tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards these are considered the big cats. Cougars do not belong to this family, yet the particular group of cougars that live in the Everglades are somewhat different than cougars elsewhere and apparently Floridians wanting to be special call their cougars Florida panther.
Cheers 🍻
We are talking about a melanated leopard, no?
I have these cats - Puma's in my case. I live in SE Cornwall. Seen one on the banks of the Lyner just outside Callington. I have also seen one on Dartmoor. A final one around the St. Ive area a while ago. Lets just leave them alone. They dont bother us. They live quiet secretive lives for the most part.
@Steve Whiting The areas I name are well known. Even the Daily Mail have managed to report on the sightings . However, I suspect they have much wider territories than that and finding them wont be easy..
we have these big cats in australia , American army introduced them and no one beleived they were around until sightings started happening on camera of encounters . these big cats are really good at hiding
There are fascinating animals in the uk i love your country regards from brazil
I live in West Sussex in the National Park close to Goodwood and we have a lot of woodland and although I haven't seen any big cats there have been sightings in the newspaper. One night, maybe 8pm 9pm when I was walking my Siberian husky in the depths of the common she decided to be naughty and ran off, not coming back to me when I called her. So to get close to her quickly I decided to cross a big patch of tall trees rather than take the path way back round and while crossing over this patch of trees I felt like something was watching me, although like I said I could not see a big cat and haven't I just felt to my very core that there was some sort of animal watching me and deciding whether to pray on me or not. Luckily I made it back to my car before I had the chance to find out to which my husky storm also came running back over and jump straight up into the car another reason that I think there may have been some sort of the big cat that scared my dog to.
My brother and i saw what looked like a black panther, large in size, on a sunny day during a woodland walk through the new forest.
This old lady like can you believe it- from your encounter not really just sounds like my girl wanted to be on camera. But living in rural England myself I have seen and heard some spooky unexplained animal noises and sights for as long as I remember
My usual response to this is that there are three types of people who report these sightings:
1. Genuinely mistaken people. They have seen something and they're not lying, but aren't correct either.
2. Fantasists with a pre-disposition to belive and/or look for sightings. They'll see a labrador, but their desire for it to be a big cat clouds their judgement. Not necessarily lying, but not necessarily reliable witnesses either! Similar to how so many people who see "ghosts" already believe in ghosts before their "sighting".
3. Outright liars
(4. The very, very, very small minority who have actually seen a big cat)
I believe most fall into 1 and 2. A good example of 2 is a guy who claimed to have hair samples from 3 individual cats that he supposedly knew all about. The samples were tested and were found be be deer, badger and dog. But he "knew" which specific cat each sample came from, before it was actually disproved.
It's really easy to misidentify things, especially at distance, and specifically in terms of size.
I've done this a few times at a local estuary, seen a bird and thought "wow, that's huge!" and wondered what it was, but then it turns out to be a gull as it gets closer, and nowhere near the size I had estimated it to be when it was further away.
Add in how special it would feel to see a big cat, and also how urban legends and local gossip add to people's suggestibility. If a local says they've seen a big cat, that is going to be in your mind when you're out and about - there was a supposed lion recently in Essex, turned out to be a large ginger domestic cat! But it made the local TV news.
I'm no expert but I believe cats, one of nature's stealthiest land species, could survive in the UK. We have large numbers of deer, but you hardly ever see them despite their size. Take a much rarer and stealthier animal, they could exist in the UK countryside.
My mind as to whether they are here or not, is completely open: I'm an open-minded sceptic you could say! I won't believe without proof, but I won't categorically state they aren't here, because I just don't know!
You seem to be delusional.
They exist.
Someone will be claiming they have seen a Sabre tooth tiger in Weymouth or a Mammoth in Poole park next.
Someone told me they saw a wolf in Parkstone once. Had a fair amount of smeg on it too.
forbiddencrisis so true 😂
Funny you should say that......
Coincidentally, i see a Dragonfly along the Jurassic coast
I saw a grey fox or small wolf in Epping forest
I live in Schaumburg, Illinois in the US. Schaumburg is a suburb of Chicago about 25 miles out from the city and about 10 miles short of where the farms start. We have bobcats and coyotes in town as do most other suburbs which have forest preserves or any sizable undeveloped natural areas. They seldom interact with the human population, although pets occasionally go missing.
My 37 yo daughter saw what she described as a 'massive cat thing' chasing a much smaller house cat across the path just in front of her, this happened only 2 days ago on a very early morning dog walk, it was still dark and the small cat ran into a garden off to her right while the big cat went into the next door garden ,when I asked her how big it was she said like a Spaniel size.
She got a much clearer look at it while it stood still in the garden and she told me it had dark tufts on its ears and a stumpy tail, later on we went through some photos of big cats and her eyes went wide when she saw one of a Eurasian Lynx, apparently it was an exact match in all respects for what she saw.
As big as a Lab.
Not a dog.
Fast and silent.
Black tufted ears.
Stumpy tail.
Light brown with black or dark spots.
I've been back to the site and checked for spoor but had no luck, I had been hoping for paw prints in mud but the path is edged with grass at that point.
Now to me that's weird enough but when you consider that she lives in a built up area just outside of Jarrow in South Tyneside I would normally dismiss such a sighting made by anyone I know as a mistake or a wind-up but as any parent can tell you they know when their 37yo daughter is fibbing or kidding.
I've no particular interest in wildlife other than a healthy general one and have never mentioned possible wild big cats to her so why would she invent this story other than it wasn't a story at all?
It remains a mystery to me.
I have had several family members tell me first hand accounts of seeing big cats in the UK, including one where my mum, aunt and grandmother saw a large black cat walk through their farm and jump a security fence that was over 6 feet tall just like a house cat might jump onto a 2-3 foot garden wall
House cats don't struggle at all with 6 foot fences!
@@user-lf3wr8rh7r they don't leap over them in 1 bound though
A couple years back Ray Mears came up t the highlands tracking, he said they were here, not the sorta dude t spin nonsense.
(Edit) looked up the article, a quote from Ray “I know there are big cats out there because I’ve seen three myself. And I know exactly what two of them were. One was a jungle cat and the other was an American mountain lion. The third I saw for only a split second and couldn’t make it out - but it was very big."
Yep he was so clued up he stupidly thought he could harass a Stingray & we all know what happened there.
@@andrewrobertsmith7367 what you on about that was steve irwin
@@leonaandleebutton5697, My bad. You're right.
@@andrewrobertsmith7367 they were both nature guys so easy mistake to make bro
@@leonaandleebutton5697, I do know who they both are I just got them mixed up. :)
I dont know why it made me laugh when the nice old lady was interviewed and her dog matches the leapords description :P.
Silly old codger waffling on about hindquarters to die for like shes a crufts judge.
I am from hull east Yorkshire in the uk I just took a walk to the local 24 hour garage for cigarettes with my partner and pet jack Russell. On the way back we walked the long way down a track that's remote as we walked along I thought I saw a foxes tail hanging out the bushes until we got closer and realised it was a big black cat. I was shocked at how big this cat was and suddenly realized that it wasnt an ordinary cat. It was huge ....once it noticed we were getting close it turned towards us and glanced so we got a good look them bolted off so fast I couldnt believe it. My partner was so shook up we exited the track by the nearest possible trail. After this we looked up this and found this video...and it is true I can honestly say we do have big cats here in the UK and of all places HULL (like wtf!!) I just wish I had a camera to hand to prove what we saw. I wont lie rather scary if you ask me, defo not walking on that track alone again. This thing was huge!!!!
Hi Reliance Services, We’re currently producing a new documentary on this subject and we would love to hear about your sighting via a recorded phone call. This can be completely anonymous or you can choose to be credited at the end of the film. The phone call would take no longer than 10 mins. Is this something you would be interested in? If so, please email me at mike@grizzly.co.uk. Thanks, Mike :)
It’s romantic to think that they are out there but I think by now someone would have definitive proof if they were.