The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper column inches than any other cryptozoological subject.There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived in some way by us, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.
It takes a long time to do, and is a fairly tedious task, so I am not promising that they will be done each day, but I will do them as regularly as I can. JD
Big cat spotted prowling near North Tesco
The Northern Echo
A mysterious big cat has been spotted roaming wild for the second time in one week. Jeni Banks was driving home when she spotted the large panther-like creature amble across the road in front of her. The incident is just the latest in a string of ...
This first story is just a reprise of yesterday's account by Jeni Banks of Carlisle, and no new news is given apart from a mildly amusing slice of dialogue attributed to a cashier from Tesco. This next story, is also a reprise, this time of the ongoing events in Gloucestershire, but includes some wise words from Frank Tunbridge, who stresses that the animals are essentially harmless. Well done that man!
Experts say Gloucestershire big cat will not attack humans
This is Gloucestershire
FEARS that big cats could be a danger to people have been allayed by a tracker who believes one is living on the edge of Gloucester. After three new big cat sightings in the city last week, there were calls for police to patrol the streets.
I can only say that I rather concur with this particular big cat "expert" (can you be an expert in a species you haven't identified even to genus level, and aren't certain even exists?) for rather more prosaic reasons. The 'Big Black Cat' animal has been sighted a very great deal over the last few decades, so there must be quite a few of them knocking about. They don't seem to be particularly afraid of humans so if they were human-aggressive, we'd know about it by now.
ReplyDeleteOne way to test the 1976 release event theory (as opposed to the animals existing before this time) would be to look at historical records, and see if there is a sudden increase in sightings around about the time that myxymatosis was introduced into the UK. The disease was introduced in 1953, with peak kill rates being seen 1954 and 55; an upswing in sightings of big black cats and in particular a marked increase in sheep kills and stories of domestic cats going missing ought to have occurred, had there been a significant population of large cats in the UK at that time.