Big cat sightings in the UK. - Page 2

indaba1991 · 08 December 2013, 05:02

Our trash bags have been constantly been broken into recently - huge tears in the side of the bags and bits strewn all over the place. Was sure it had to be a large cat or fox. Finally spotted the culprit the other night. It was a large hedgehog!

Peter_C · 08 December 2013, 06:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by indaba1991

Our trash bags have been constantly been broken into recently - huge tears in the side of the bags and bits strewn all over the place. Was sure it had to be a large cat or fox. Finally spotted the culprit the other night. It was a large hedgehog!

If that was here, I would blame it on a Raccoon

They are smart and get into anything related to food. As does a bear, but we don't have those around here.

The Black Pig · 08 December 2013, 07:16

There has been no sight of any pussy round my way for years

But I do my keep my eye out

Boatnomad · 08 December 2013, 18:26

"That ^ is in the South of San Francisco area. I live North of the Bay and we have similar signs around our parks"

Spotted those 2 pictures on a Pacific Crest Trail forum a while back at the start of their season.

vjmehra · 08 December 2013, 18:35

I saw this big cat in Central London!!!

:-)

jyasaki · 09 December 2013, 07:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_C

There are two local creatures I am afraid of...first is the Great White Shark that happens to frequent our local dive waters, and the second are the mountain lions that also happen to frequent our local dive sites, just on the land side. They are both majestic creatures that deserve respect, and occasionally decide to take a taste of a person, but we are not their prey.

Agree with the first; not so much the second. We aren't their normal prey for sure, but they can and do deliberately attack people (as opposed to GW sharks who [arguably] only hit humans by mistake.) The good thing is that the cats are relatively rare, so encounters are as well.

Recently, we've been having coyote problems in my neighborhood. The wild turkeys have disappeared, as have a number of housecats. A neighbor saw them eating a deer they had killed about 30 feet from his back door.

I'm sure we have mountain lions in the area (I'm in sparsely populated hills, about a quarter mile from a large wildland park), but I've never seen one. The deer population is probably large enough that they don't have to come into the residential areas.

Unrelated note: Nomad; I'm confused: Are you in the US or in Ireland (your posts imply California, but your profile says Ireland)?

jky

Cookee · 09 December 2013, 07:28

I had a cat encounter - in all fairness it was during a family visit to Zimbabwe

This might have been his dad ...............

biffer · 09 December 2013, 07:39

Fair set of gonads on that lion John, I met a big pussy Friday night, scared the crap out of me

Boatnomad · 09 December 2013, 18:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Unrelated note: Nomad; I'm confused: Are you in the US or in Ireland (your posts imply California, but your profile says Ireland)?

jky

Ireland, in the post above i was quoting Peter C from a earlier post

kerny · 09 December 2013, 20:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookee

I had a cat encounter - in all fairness it was during a family visit to Zimbabwe

This might have been his dad ...............

Nice when they are that size cookee. When I lived in Pretoria there was a Lion park not to far away from me. It wasn't a bad day out there either.

Turbodiesel · 09 December 2013, 21:28

Well I live on Bodmin moor and ive not seen anything!

kerny · 09 December 2013, 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbodiesel

Well I live on Bodmin moor and ive not seen anything!

Thats what all the smugglers and bootleggers say from that area

kerny · 09 December 2013, 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

Certainly they are around. Having said that, a lot of sightings are of large domestics cats in open terrain where the observer has difficulty establishing scale.

I know one RIBnetter who has shot a Jaguarundi that was on the loose in the British Isles for many weeks, if not months. It's all a bit hush hush but I'm quite happy that it happened.

A second story, a friend of mine in Northern Ireland was walking through brush near his home (in a VERY isolated tree filled valley). As he approached a bush along his route, a deep growl emanated from it. He stopped, the growling increased. He engaged full astern and the bush calmed down. No sighting.

These Jaguarundi do seem more feasible willk than leopards or Jaguars due to the fact that there have only been sightings, and no actual serious or fatal attacks.