I do not consider in Big Cat sightings after reporting on them for years

For members of the press, it’s the purrfect storm – one thing they’ll actually get their claws into. 

The matter of huge cats on the free is once more fur recreation for these searching for dramatic headlines, even when the tales lack somewhat substance. The contemporary drama was whipped up following this week’s “incredible” footage of an outsized feline roaming Cheshire countryside. 

It is much more unimaginable than final yr’s unimaginable footage of a panther in Smallthorne, Staffordshire, that featured within the documentary “Panthera Britannia Declassified”, aired on Amazon Prime. 

There are a staggering 2,000 reported sightings of huge cats in Britain every year – and our area is, if the claims are to be believed, a fertile breeding floor for the animals. The West Midlands is large cat nation. The beasts have been seen in Birmingham, regularly on Cannock Chase and throughout Warwickshire. 

• Last yr, it was reported DNA proved black hair discovered tangled on barbed wire fringing Gloucestershire farmland got here from a giant cat. 
• In 2021, a walker precipitated pleasure by alleging the panther of Pebworth, Warwickshire, was again. It’s been seen on plenty of events since then. 
• In 2018, educating assistant Dawn Paige supplied very compelling video proof of a giant cat prowling close to bins near her home in Oldbury. 
• In 2010, police had been even referred to as over stories of a panther resting in a tree in Wednesfield. 

Many are satisfied the damaging animals are on the market. It is merely a query of whether or not they’re efficiently breeding in our countryside. I’ll admit to being a part of the frenzy. As a reporter who, for 25 years, labored a patch that included Cannock Chase I’ve been on quite a few large cat hunts. All had been fruitless. 

I’ve revealed the eye-witness accounts of many, many individuals who alleged Close Encounters of the Furred Kind. I understand how errors are made, I do know the panther pitfalls. 

When the snow falls this week, there might be one other wave of huge cat sightings. I guarantee it. That’s as a result of a overlaying of snow produces infinite images of over-sized “paw prints”, those that took them claiming they had been made by pumas or panthers. 

They are mistaken. The prints belong to rabbits, the bunny’s bum making a big indentation within the centre, the claimed claw marks are its toes. And, as a rule of thumb, any paw prints exhibiting claws had been made by dogs. Felines can – and do- retract their claws when walking, canines can’t and don’t. 

Big cats are often on the market. I’ll stick my neck out and say that’s a reality. But they’ve all escaped from captivity. There is not any thriving, sustainable inhabitants. 

One senior West Midlands detective – a giant cat believer – instructed me: “You can get anything into this country. For some years, owning a big cat was something of a status symbol for criminal hierarchy – blame Mike Tyson. Some of those pets escaped.” 

If they’d been thriving for years in our countryside, we’d be seeing them way more commonly. They’re elusive, however not that elusive. Surely somebody by now would’ve supplied pictures of cubs? Surely a hi-res, respectable high quality image would’ve been taken? 

Back in 2015, TV naturalist Gordon Buchanan instructed the Shropshire Star: “I mentioned about 5 years in the past that, with everyone carrying cell phones with cameras, we are going to quickly have conclusive proof if there have been actually large cats on the market,” he says. “So far that has but to materialise.” 

And the numerous photographs supplied of mutilated carcasses will not be the aftermath of huge cat feasts. The harm was achieved by foxes and badgers. We have simple proof they’ve spent a short while away from captivity in our open areas. 

On February 3, 1989, an Asian jungle cat was found lifeless on the roadside at Richards Castle, Ludlow. A puma was shot in Inverness in 1980, a lynx captured in Cricklewood a yr later. All are believed to have been on the run from captivity. But there’s not an opportunity they’re breeding within the wild. Not a prayer. 

A panther has a life expectancy of 12 years, in order that drives a coach and horses by claims we’re seeing animals intentionally launched when the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act, banning possession of such unique pets, got here into power.  

 Rhoda Watkins, Britain’s high large cat tracker, takes difficulty with my perception that Britain holds a breeding inhabitants. She mentioned: “I have studied the behaviour of animals, including prey species and big cats and see things with a tracking mindset. 

“There is just too much evidence out there that cannot be anything other than big cats. There is a lot of nonsense around sightings of domestic cats and dogs, but all the signs are there is a decent-sized population out there. 

“I spend all my time outdoors and am tracking wildlife constantly. When you do that you find other things that don’t fit with the native wildlife. This could be tracks or footprints. On a couple of occasions I have seen kills with carcasses you could not attribute to anything other than a big cat. I have also spoken to so many credible witnesses who have seen similar things.” 

She added: “People are often shaky when they see something so the photos are often not the best quality. I am always sceptical as it is not something you see every day which is why I take the scientific approach. But the science is out there to corroborate the sightings and I think everyone has got to take that approach otherwise it just falls into legend.” 

The jury is out. But keep in mind one factor, if, within the subsequent few days, somebody exhibits you an image of a panther’s paw print within the snow, inform them to hop it. It’s a rabbit.