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Alien Big Cats ('ABCs')

In your opinion what are alien big cats most likely to be?

  • Escapees from collections, breeding in the UK countryside

    Votes: 57 48.3%

  • A species of endemic British big cat somehow overlooked by science

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Zooform Phenomena - animal-shaped manifestations of paranormal activity

    Votes: 6 5.1%

  • Misidentifications of big dogs, normal cats etc

    Votes: 28 23.7%

  • A big hoax

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Summat else

    Votes: 4 3.4%

  • All of the above

    Votes: 23 19.5%
  • Total voters
    118
Benzie said:
Been reading the Robert Macfarlane book "The Old Ways - A Journey on Foot". He and a friend had spent a day on the Ridgeway in the area of Knapp Hill and Walker's Hill. There was snow on the ground. Just leaving in their vehicle at dusk, a large black cat with big yellow eyes appeared on the verge before moving into the hedge. An other-worldly finish to their day.
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Haven't read the book (although it looks good), do you feel this was an actual sighting or was it 'ethereal' and/or a metaphor for his particular location?
 
They are out there (apparently).
D6E21CF8-AB54-4340-9168-DB59F92D014B.jpeg
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Nobody ever speaks about the ASCs which are in our midst. It's a kind of omerta, perhaps; yet these Alien Small Cats are everywhere and are the size of, well, cats.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Haven't read the book (although it looks good), do you feel this was an actual sighting or was it 'ethereal' and/or a metaphor for his particular location?
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Very much an actual sighting. My fault for using that phrasing. The guy really knows his British fauna, as evident in his books. Him and his friend clearly saw this black panther and were amazed. From the rest of the book I think this happened around 2010.
 
There’s a reason people are double-hugging them to hold them,they are 150-180 Lb toms.
 
More pertinently, how are they finding the things?

I have heard big cats are very secretive.
 
Stillill said:
Are they being shot for fun?
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States allocate a certain number of tags per area,places without tags have seen an upsurge in mountain lion numbers,another reason to think there’s none whatsoever in the UK as there’s certainly enough prey due to the soaring deer numbers.
Kondoru said:
More pertinently, how are they finding the things?

I have heard big cats are very secretive.
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Hounds.I spent a few months in Orange County earlier this year,an adult mountain lion walked through a shopping area and tried to get into a hairdressers in broad daylight,they ain’t all secretive even in populated areas.
 
Druk said:
States allocate a certain number of tags per area,places without tags have seen an upsurge in mountain lion numbers,another reason to think there’s none whatsoever in the UK as there’s certainly enough prey due to the soaring deer numbers.

Hounds.I spent a few months in Orange County earlier this year,an adult mountain lion walked through a shopping area and tried to get into a hairdressers in broad daylight,they ain’t all secretive even in populated areas.
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Just wanted a purrm.
 
Didn't realise Mountain Lions could be that big! Heard a biologist on the radio who was studying them in Colorado. He said he'd never come across one in the wild in years of study in the field. They used a trained pack of dogs (as Druk said). The cat would go up a tree and the humans would then arrive and dart the cat to attach a collar and such.

Saw a black leopard at Whipsnade once. We watched it, mesmerised, for an hour - just walking around. It was an adult, but really quite small compared to many other big cats - certainly compared to those mountain lions.
 
Is it genuinely necessary for these cats to be killed - as seen in some of the posted photographs - and how can keeping them (effectively) imprisoned in zoos be justified?
 
Steven said:
Is it genuinely necessary for these cats to be killed - as seen in some of the posted photographs - and how can keeping them (effectively) imprisoned in zoos be justified?
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Got to keep populations in check,biologists agree with that so yes,killing a number in a given area each year is necessary,There’s no reduction in the numbers,they are actually increasing.
 
Druk said:
Got to keep populations in check,biologists agree with that so yes,killing a number in a given area each year is necessary,There’s no reduction in the numbers,they are actually increasing.
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That may be so - I wouldn't know - but why do the hunters feel the need to publish such triumphalist photos?
 
Druk said:
Same as an angler in a British angling magazine on the front cover holding a huge cod?Same as cave paintings showing animals with spears in them?Man needs to record.
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It's just a pity that this is so often done in such a vainglorious way.
 
When we first came to this area about 30 years ago I was told by someone
from one of the emergency services of a old lady that put food out for a cat
that came every night, they had been alerted by her neighbors fearing for
her safety, now what the neighbors saw that worried them I don't know,
the but the words were "It was a bloody wild cat" I never heard anything
more, and both will be long gone now.
 
Steven said:
Is it genuinely necessary for these cats to be killed - as seen in some of the posted photographs - and how can keeping them (effectively) imprisoned in zoos be justified
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It probably isn’t necessary but if it’s not illegal then you will always find some weirdo who enjoys killing things.
 
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