Strange beasties

[codprawn]

Well we have had one about flotsam so why not?

Has anyone ever seen strange wildlife that just shouldn't belong in the UK?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/8172064.stm

This has to be the best proof ever of big wildcats living in the UK. Awesome footage. There have been quite a few sightings near me as well. I don't think they escaped from somewhere - probably always been here.

Here's my story.

About 20 years ago when I first passed my driving test I was driving along a really remote mountain road just north of Swansea with my brother. The area is a true wilderness - unchanged since the l;ast ice age and really bleak as you will see from the pics.

It was about 11pm and we had never been on the road before so decided to turn around and head home. As we were turning we saw a massive WOLF just sitting there watching us.

To say we were scared is an understatement. We have seen wolves in places like the Pyrenees but they aren't supposed to be in Britain!!!

A few days later the local radio station had a phone in programme asking people for real life ghost stories. A man called in to say he was walking his dog in the hills when he saw a large wolf looking at him - he said it vanished before his eyes!!!

About a week later I saw 2 policemen with dogs and the shepard with a shotgun searching a small patch of forestry. They didn't find anything and that was that although I never forgot what I saw and driving there at night was always scary - especially as they filmed a part of the film "An American werewolf in London" up there.........

Anyway last year I was having a look through the local rag in a petrol station and there was a story that made me gasp. It said that a large wild dog had been seen prowling in an area called Craig Cefn parc which is very near where I saw the wolf. It said the police had shot the animal and found it's "lair". They kept saying it must have escaped from somewhere.

Why would a normal dog have escaped from somewhere and why would they head for such a remote place - i would have thought the local Macdonalds dustbins would have been better.

Anyway it can't have been the same animal I saw after almost 20 years so they must have been breeding. And the damn Police shot the poor thing.

[doggypaddle]

same sort of thing but different...........I used to live on Exmoor, I worked at a local garage, a woman brought a car in for an insurance quotation.
she explained she had parked her car near Dulverton and walked up to Tarr steps, over to east Anstey and back to the car she was gone for most of the day. Upon returning to her car she noticed it had been damaged. There were large muddy paw marks all over bonnet and roof, like a large animal had been walking over the car, and on the bonnet there was a smeared paw print and deep gouged claw marks down to the primer like the animal has slid off and put its claws out to try and get some grip.
the paw prints were about the size of a very large dogs, but then again a dog wouldn't have claws that sharp.
The existence of wild boar on exmoor was poo poo,d for many years, theres no denying it now! perhaps the same goes for a large cat?
There were plenty of people living around the area claim to have seen it, but they were usually tanked up on the way from the pub

[Nos4r2]

About 10 years ago,2 of us witnessed what appeared to be a small sandy coloured female lion walk across the road in front of us about 5 miles from your house.It was by the Texaco station on the B4216 at 2am.

We saw it again, same time the next night.

[doggypaddle]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

About 10 years ago,2 of us witnessed what appeared to be a small sandy coloured female lion walk across the road in front of us about 5 miles from your house.It was by the Texaco station on the B4216 at 2am.

We saw it again, same time the next night.

been on the Absinthe by any chance

[neilda]

Stick to the path laddie!!

There are rumours of a large black cat - Jaguar or Panther sized - living in or near our woodland. Eeeek! Our gardener says he saw it coming down one of the trees and, sure enough, there are huge claw marks down it. We have a few acres which run into about 250 acres of woodland, so moderately peaceful for a large something to hide in.

Not scared.

Not at all.

Never think about it, when I'm out there on my own.

[doggypaddle]

When out on exmoor I was more scared of stags and wild boar then any cats! a Stag or wild boar could would kill a large dog easily if it chose to.
fortunately theyr'e quite timid most of the time, Stags can be a bit unpredictable in the rutting season.

[jyasaki]

Off-topic; In California, the sightings of Wildcats (aka Cougars, aka Puma) has been on the rise, with a few attacks on humans (not sure, but I think a couple have been fatal.)

In San Bernadino, a guy raising show Akitas looked into his back yard in time to see a cougar dragging the the body of one of his dogs over the 6' fence. One cat had killed 2 large dogs.

Not something I'd want to mess with.

Okay, sorry; back to the UK sightings...


jky

[Tim M]

Has anyone ever seen strange wildlife that just shouldn't belong in the UK?

Sounds like one of the local Pompey girls you find in Tiger Tiger on a Friday night

[BruceB]

There have been regular sightings of a black "panther" in Oban for many years. It was finally spotted in the hospital grounds and and police called in time to see it.
It turned out to a rather small black cat. On this being confirmed a number of red faced staff stated that they thought it was rather further away than it actually was.................

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by doggypaddle

been on the Absinthe by any chance

Deadly serious.