Big Cats Been Here Before?

[Dave]

We often hear on the news that someone has claimed they have seen a big cat , but do any really roam around our countryside? Despite the obvious temptation for hoaxing, a lot of evidence has been gathered to prove their existence, from bones to faeces, from hair to the bite marks left in the necks of slaughtered livestock. Sometimes cats are caught live like the Puma found near Inverness in 1980 and placed in zoos. Their origin, however, has always been something of a mystery.

I came across a story about one such big cat that was shot and killed near Newton Abbot around the early 1900’s. The discovery of a taxidermied lynx in the archives of a Bristol museum has now offered evidence that large wild cats have been roaming the wilds of Britain for at least a century. Records accompanying the lynx whose pelt had been mounted by a taxidermist, with its bones collected and stored separately showed that someone called "Mr Heb" had shot it near the town of Newton Abbot in Devon after it had killed two dogs sometime around 1900. It was donated to the museum in 1903 by a Mr J Niblet, with Newton Abbot marked as its place of origin

Strontium isotope analysis looks at the isotopes found in an animal's bones or teeth and can match it up with the bedrock and soil of different parts of the world, sometimes with amazing accuracy. With the lynx, its results matched with both Newton Abbot and the landscape of Western Alberta. so that didn't indicate when it might have moved to the UK. However, the type of wearing on its teeth did show that it had spent most of its life, ten or 11 years, in captivity, eating soft foods. It's almost certain that the lynx escaped from its owner somewhere near Newton Abbot, and was shot and killed by Mr Heb.

Many people think that big cats have only been seen since the Wild Animals Act 1976 was introduced, but there have been enough sightings of exotic big cats which substantially pre-date 1976 to cast doubt on the idea that one piece of legislation made in 1976 explains all releases of these animals in the UK.

I have never seen one myself and when you think how much time I spend of the day driving around the Southwest of England, you would have thought it there were any out there, I would have seen one by now

[Dave]

I was going through some old threads on here and came across this one, so thought with the news about the Lynx that was on the loose and the Cornwall lion story, I would bring it back to life.

After escaping and being on the loose for over three weeks, Flaviu the lynx from Dartmoor Zoological Park was finally captured. There were claims that he had been shot and killed, but thankfully that turned out not to be true.

No sooner being back in his cage at the zoo a story breaks out that a lion was on the loose in Cornwall after a truck driver claimed a lion jumped out in front of his vehicle.

The lion, which has been described by the driver as having black markings on its face, a dark colour and a thorny tail, was allegedly spotted near a clay pit between Nanpean and Whitemoor in St. Austell.

Officers who went looking for the animal say when they arrived at the scene, they found mysterious white paw prints where the creature appeared to have crossed the road.

A decapitated deer was found close by in a quarry, so was this lion to blame? Today we learn a three week old foal found mauled to death close to where a 'lion was on the loose' could have fallen victim to a big cat attack.

The young horse was discovered dead on Tuesday evening with its mother found nearby safe and sound.
Police have said a pack of dogs may have killed the animal, but large footprints found at the scene show a wild cat could be responsible.

The foal was found dead in a field between Brea and Camborne near to a main road, and the attack took place around 25 miles from where a lion or puma-type big cat was reportedly seen by a lorry driver

But it is thought that the large cat is not a lion and more likely to be a puma. The lorry driver who first spotted the creature, named only as Duncan, told a local radio station: "I've since looked at pictures and I definitely saw a big cat.
"It was like a puma - quite a big thing, bigger than a domestic dog.

"It had black at the tip of its tail, like a tan colour it was, black round the head, wild-looking, flattish ears - that's basically it and I can still see it now,”

So is there really a big cat on the loose in Cornwall, it is possible I suppose, we will just to wait and see if any other sightings occur.

Lion Or Puma