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This was one of the first incidents which I investigated in my capacity as director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and whilst I don’t always agree with what Danny bumping says, I have a great respect for him, and on this occasion I agree with him entirely. They have, and continue to be, a multitude of sightings of what appeared to be large cat like creatures in this region, and having visited the area, I remain convinced that some, at least, of these reports are genuine. As to what happened to Mrs Dyke, I take it cum grano salis. JD

Puma chase ends in success as big cat finally captured in Polish forest
A days-long search for a puma that wandered close to residential areas in northwestern Poland has come to the end after the large feline was captured.

A man posted on the Worcestershire Big Cat Group Facebook page on 5 July that he had spotted what he thinks is a big cat. The man said he spotted ..

Lynx reintroduction plans opposed by Northumberland councillors – BBC News
BBC
Northumberland County Council has backed a motion that it would not support any application to release the big cats into the wild, although a …

Cambodia wants to bring back tigers, but should it? – The Japan Times
The Japan Times
So he is “not happy” about a plan to reintroduce the big cats, a decade after they were declared extinct in Cambodia. “I saw the tiger take him with

I have always been interested in North America‘s Black Panther sightings. In 2003, I spent some weeks in central Illinois investigating them and spoke to several eyewitnesses, including somebody – a lady of a certain age – who had seen the pelt of one nailed up on a barn door when she had been a little girl. My friend and colleague Bill Rebsamen has been cataloguing these sightings from Alabama, and I found it very interesting that it is now hitting the global media.

the only indigenous big cat species to any of these errors is the puma (which isn’t actually a big cat) or – if you stretch the definition wildly – bobcat or lynx. These creatures are far too big to be either of these latter species, And – despite rumours – there is no proof that pumas will produce a melanistic colour morph. So what are they?

Terrified commuter encounters ‘Beast of Essex’ prowling UK train platform – Daily Star
Daily Star
Wivenhoe boasts an extensive history of alleged big cat encounters, with residents regularly claiming sightings of enigmatic large felines throughout …

Who let the (big cat) out? – MaltaToday
MaltaToday
Who let the (big cat) out? Investigations into the escape of a panther cub in Bormla last February is still being investigated by police and …

The English Midlands seem to be the favourite hotspot for mystery cats this summer. The anatomy of the press interest in such hotspots is almost as interesting as the cats themselves, and I thinkv that if we could understand this mechanism it would tell us an awful lot about how the modern media machine works. this is not to say, however, that these animals do not exist. There is too much evidence to the contrary.

This story, which broke a few days ago, took the Internet by storm. It was originally claimed that this was a creature that looked like a leopard, but it is simple, when you zoom into it, to see it’s nothing of the sort. It is either a serval, or – more likely – a Savannah Cat, which is a domestic breed produced by crossing domestic cut with servals. They cost a fortune, and seem to have a tendency to escape given half a chance.

And so the Welsh wild big cat reports continue to come in. Again, I would like to stress that the important thing is not whether or not these cats are there. We know they are. But the two big questions that need answering are what species they are? and what effect they having on the ecosystem as a whole? If I were a betting man, and betting is one of the few vices I have never had, I would say that the results on the ecosystem are going to be good ones across the board. JD

This is particularly bad news for the relatively newly discovered Tapanuli orangutan, and has severe connotations for a sum of the worlds had prothesis but undiscovered ape species, such as the orange pendek thatalso lives on Sumatra. JD