Mystery Cats

Wild ‘panther’ spotted on Halkyn Mountain – FemaleFirst
FemaleFirst
Mark looked at the cat through his binoculars and he’s convinced the beast was way too big to have been a domestic cat. He told Puma Watch: “Me, my …

Here we have another one of the big cat stories from the backlog which has amassed during the time that I have been out of action due to my house move. We are getting towards the end now, thank goodness. I’m not sure what to make of this photograph. I’d be very interested in reading your comments. The fact that it had taken in a park in Bristol does seem to preclude it being a bonafide big cat. But stranger things have happened JD

Herewith another news dump. Again, it is a interesting story about mystery cats, and I make no apologies for including it here. It is interesting to see how even the devolved governments in the UK are beginning to take the stories of mystery felids in the British countryside seriously. I will not be doing much more news aggregation this evening, but I seriously suspect that will be more news dumps either tonight or in the next few days. I am very pleased to see how many things my iPad can do that I didn’t know, but I strongly suspect I will have a computer or two again in the next week or so. Many apologies, again, for the break in our normal service JD

‘The legend of Catfoot appears to be growing’ more Beast of Binley Woods sightings

Another weird story from my backlog. I truly have no idea what this animal is. My gut reaction screams “OTTER!!” but I have no real evidential argument to back this up.JD

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 …

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?