BIG CAT NEWS: Neil Arnold on a Kent Big Cat photo
With the recent video of an alleged 'big cat' appearing on The Sun website, I'd be interested to see what CFZ readers make of this image which I published in my MYSTERY ANIMALS OF...KENT book in 2009.
The photo was snapped in 1998 by a Kent man named Harry Matthews whilst he was working on marshes at Cooling, a few miles outside of Rochester.
At the time the story featured on the local news, and in no way did Mr Matthews say it was an enormous cat, but he felt it was more than just a feral. Interestingly, a story appeared on one of the major tabloid websites from elsewhere in the country and this photo was stolen and spoken of as 'the beast of Bodmin', but it isn't, it was photographed in Kent. It's one of the clearest photo's ever taken, and has led some to believe it's a Reed Cat (Jungle Cat), others believe it to be a domestic/Jungle cat hybrid. It certainly isn't much bigger than a fox, your opinions please.
Regards
Neil Arnold
I am tempted to speculate that the cat in this image looks like a hyper-melanistic, Felis catus/Felis silvestris hybrid, but then where could the F. silvestris make up have come from? and if one of its parents was from near true wildcat stock was this animal an escapee or something more interesting? Are there any good reports of wildcat looking felids in or around Kent, either looking true to the Lock Ness holotype or some atypical variant of it- that (at the very least) look odd enough to not conform to the general perception of the average domestic cat and therefore reported as otherwise? Whether accurately or not!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this cat does look similar to the large and apparently terrestrial cats once reported and even killed in Kellas, Scotland, even from this distance, and if I'm not mistaken I believe these animals (or at least some of them) turned out to be hybrid offspring from the two species.
Which is hardly surprising as both species have co-existed for a while in some locations in Scotland and are almost genetically identical producing viable young.
Although I think this could also quite easily be a very large domestic moggie.
By the way Neil, Mystery Animals...London was a fantastic read and I shall soon be buying Mystery Animals...Kent, Thanks again mate.
I've never received a report of a 'wildcat' in Kent. This animal is far longer in the body and has a rabbit-shaped head. It also has spotted hind quarters. This photo has been commented on by more than 150 people in the past and no-one seems to agree! What is clear is that in the UK wilds there are smaller hybrid species, certainly jungle cat/domestic cats - although these clearly do not explain the sightings of 5-6 ft long cats resembling pumas and melanistic leopard. The area the photo was taken does not suggest this is a domestic cat. This photo also proves that even when clear photographs are taken of alleged exotic cats, people still can't identify them!
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