Alien Big Cats ('ABCs')

[Mouldy13]

You're probably right, and I'm making too much of it. To be honest, I still haven't made peace with the name Bradford Bulls. There were nowt wrong wi't name Bradford Northern. And look what good the name change and Murdoch cash infusion did them. So I'm sceptical about these more showbiz names. What connection do Panthers have to Halifax? Even the motorbikes were built in Cleckheaton...

No, you've made your point , and whilst we may disagree we're being civilized about it. To my mind it's just marketing, in the case of Bradford the Bulls name really caught on.

Connection to Halifax? none that I'm aware of, but as I say, it's marketing, and it's got the club plenty of media mentions around the world.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Next Saturday's TetZooMCon will have a panel on British big cats, involving Darren Naish, Rick Minter, and Matthew Everett (plus some special guests). Sign up for the virtual event here. http://tetzoo.com/convention

 

[IbisNibs]

It's possible someone else has posted this—I did do a search to see if there were mentions of this, saw nothing, but just don't want to go through all 48 pages of this thread to be sure—anyway, for those wondering about possible mystery big cats in North America, here are some accounts:
https://montanapioneer.com/black-panther-sightings/
Most sightings listed on this pate are in Texas (of course everything is bigger there). The cat in question is larger than a cougar, glossy black, and remains "unrecognized by scientific consensus."
I had to go looking for more information about such sightings after listening to this:

About 1 hour and 2 minutes in, there's the story of the hunter in Idaho who sees a very large, very black, very intelligent cat that does not fit the usual description of a cougar. I found it a rather chilling story. Cats of any size are very cunning predators.

 

[Lord Lucan]

A report out of Cheshire, England:

Cheshire big cat mystery as police probe large 'predator' attack on sheep

Mystery surrounds the death of a number of sheep on a Cheshire farm, with police investigating whether a "larger predator" than a dog was behind the attack.

Officers from Cheshire Police's Rural Crime Team visited the farm on December 30, and spoke to the farmer, who it is understood told them of past sightings of what looked like a big cat in the area.

https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/cheshire-big-cat-mystery-police-19567745

 

[Min Bannister]

From the article:-

Six of the livestock had died and four had been seriously injured and had to be put to sleep

This sounds exactly like a dog attack. Why would a predator living wild kill so many sheep? They would be killing to eat and not for fun as a well fed pet dog would do. Just because the farmer doesn't usually get dog walkers, doesn't mean they aren't getting them now. People are probably getting sneaky now with covid restrictions. Especially the irresponsible ones.

 

[Nemo]

Here have some fun reading the comments.

Unfurgettable: why the beast of Cumbria just won't go away

Sightings of big cats around the Lake District have been going on for two decades. So who is putting them there?

A black panther as not spotted in the Lake District. Photograph: Freder/Getty Images

Tue 12 Jan 2021 17.02 GMT
Last modified on Wed 13 Jan 2021 11.21 GMT

Name: The beast of Cumbria.
Age: Hard to say. Reports of a large cat roaming around the Lake District have been logged since at least 2003.

Appearance: Big, black, shiny, panther-like, piercing yellow eyes, swishing tail, about 1.2 metres long.

Friendly? Apparently not. Likes to rip the heads off sheep.

Why is it in the news now? There has been a spate of recent sightings, with a Facebook group called Big Cats in Cumbria reporting a dozen or so in the past year.

All the same cat? Sounds like there’s more than one. Sharon Larkin-Snowden, who set up the Facebook group, says a puma, a black-and-white leopard and another big cat have all been seen.

(c) The Guardian. '20.

 

[Nemo]

Big cats said to have 'clinically' killed two sheep on Welsh farm.

An expert says the work is that of a puma living in the nearby mountains

This is not the only report of unusual killings of sheep in Snowdonia (Image: PA)
A welsh farmer was told the "clinical" killing of his sheep is linked to pumas living in Snowdonia.

Following the grisly discovery, the farmer contacted Frank Tunbridge, 73, a big cat expert from Gloucestershire who told him the killings might be linked to "two pumas operating in the area".

And it appears it was not an isolated incident with the expert claiming he has had other reports of livestock being killed in a manner "unlike that of what dogs will do," in Snowdonia.

(C) WoL. '20

 

[Kondoru]

More dodgy news.

Those sheep are clearly still alive.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Big cats said to have 'clinically' killed two sheep on Welsh farm.

(C) WoL. '20

That picture should have the title "Terrified Sheep Flee Shadow Person".

 

[Lord Lucan]

A report coming out of the Mornington Penninsula, Victoria, Australia yesterday:

Is this the elusive Australian black panther? Carpenter catches a HUGE cat on camera while going for a walk near a swamp with his son

A carpenter's photo of a big cat has sparked debate over whether it proves black panthers really do roam Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

Michael Corr, 36, was walking through the Tootgarook wetlands, south-east of Melbourne, last Thursday, with his 11-year-old son when he spotted the feline.

He managed to pull out his phone just in time to take a photo before the animal wandered into the snake infested reeds.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...lack-panther-roaming-outskirts-Melbourne.html

 

[GNC]

Looks like a normal, domestic cat with nothing to judge the scale by.

 

[Min Bannister]

You can see tyre tracks in the grass. It looks quite large but nothing out of the ordinary IMO.

 

[Sid]

Looks like a normal, domestic cat with nothing to judge the scale by.

Legs seem to be way too thin also.

 

[Min Bannister]

And the wee skinny tail..

 

[Naughty_Felid]

You can see tyre tracks in the grass. It looks quite large but nothing out of the ordinary IMO.

Depends if it's a mini or a combine harvester that made the tyre tracks.

If the shot was taken from an average shoulder height then it would appear pretty big. You generally hold your phone at face/shoulder height when taking a pic.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Cats can have very skinny tails and can have very skinny legs.

 

[Sid]

Cats can have very skinny tails and can have very skinny legs.

Seems like it might be just an unusually leggy moggy?

 

[David Plankton]

If the shot was taken from an average shoulder height then it would appear pretty big. You generally hold your phone at face/shoulder height when taking a pic.

Yes, unless the person taking this photo was crouching, I'd say it looks massive.

 

[catseye]

Yes, unless the person taking this photo was crouching, I'd say it looks massive.

Could be zoomed in? If it's a cat, it's a fat one, but it looks a bit like a Labrador with its tail held oddly, to me.

It is very easy to misperceive - I have told the story on here before about how I managed to mis-identify my own cat at a distance, as being an ABC. The cat was in the field at the end of my garden, but a 'fold' in the ground meant that it looked like a big cat much further away, when it was in fact my own black moggy, much closer to me than he seemed.

 

[Sid]

Yes, unless the person taking this photo was crouching, I'd say it looks massive.

But the man behind the camera has taken this shot more-or-less upright, i.e.

I believe this more of less fixes the height of the grasses/reeds on the right that the animal is walking into must be over the six feet mark at least - if not more?
Or, to look at it from another angle... compare the height of the grass on the opposite side of the track (highlighted in yellow) to that of the animal.

 

[David Plankton]

Could be zoomed in? If it's a cat, it's a fat one, but it looks a bit like a Labrador with its tail held oddly, to me.

You don't tend to see either domestic or feral cats out in the countryside unless there's a farm nearby.

My cat has just helpfully assisted by being measured for research purposes and she is eleven inches tall at the shoulder. I don't know any Labradors.

 

[catseye]

You don't tend to see either domestic or feral cats out in the countryside unless there's a farm nearby.

My cat has just helpfully assisted by being measured for research purposes and she is eleven inches tall at the shoulder. I don't know any Labradors.

I was going to say that I've never seen a pet cat about in Australia, but then I've mostly been in the cities. Been out on the Mornington Penninsula a few times and never seen a cat - I understand that most pet cats are kept indoors over there. Which may, of course, be why the photographer didn't recognise one when he saw it 'out in the wild'?

Or it's a Labrador.

 

[Eponastill]

I would tend to think that of the markings in the track, the left hand and the right hand one would be tyre tracks. Presumably of an ordinary sized vehicle? That is to say, the track (being in the sticks) is unlikely to be two lanes wide. (Explain the other tracks, Epona... well maybe if you were on a bike of some sort, or on foot, you'd go down the middle, hence the track marks in the middle). And if the lane is only basically one vehicle wide, unless it was a combine harvester (unlikely near a swamp), and you imagine a car plonked in the tracks - well that doesn't make the animal very big looking.
That's my Occam's razor / slightly sceptical view anyway. You can disagree of course.

 

[catseye]

I would assume that the photo is taken from quite a way back and zoomed in, as nobody would want to get quite that close to a cat they thought was 'massive'. Could be a farm moggy that's gone feral, just misperceived as being enormous - the same as I did with my own cat, with no markers to judge scale from it would be as hard for the onlooker to tell as it is for us.

If it is an ABC then it's a very well fed one, there's no sign of a 'waist' despite the skinny legs.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

I was going to say that I've never seen a pet cat about in Australia, but then I've mostly been in the cities. Been out on the Mornington Penninsula a few times and never seen a cat - I understand that most pet cats are kept indoors over there. Which may, of course, be why the photographer didn't recognise one when he saw it 'out in the wild'?

Or it's a Labrador.

I didn't think Cats indoors was such a big thing in Australia certainly not in my experience. Not compared to the US, even though it probably has a greater cause due to the wildlife. Victoria has its "must be kept in at night" law but that's about it.

Most farms have cats - this is obviously to keep rodents down.

https://www.rspca.org.au/adopt-pet/adopting-catkitten

 

[David Plankton]

But the man behind the camera has taken this shot more-or-less upright, i.e.
View attachment 34160
I believe this more of less fixes the height of the grasses/reeds on the right that the animal is walking into must be over the six feet mark at least - if not more?
Or, to look at it from another angle... compare the height of the grass on the opposite side of the track (highlighted in yellow) to that of the animal.
View attachment 34163

I'm sorry Sid, I've read and re-read this post several times today and I still don't understand what you are trying to say.

Are you agreeing or disagreeing with me? Do you think it looks small? Because if your red line is approx. six feet, then your yellow line must be at least two feet.

 

[Sid]

I'm sorry Sid, I've read and re-read this post several times today and I still don't understand what you are trying to say.

Are you agreeing or disagreeing with me? Do you think it looks small? Because if your red line is approx. six feet, then your yellow line must be at least two feet.

Spot-on 'David,' the grass height on the left hand side of the path, registers approximately two feet - or less, that gives a rough idea of the height of the animal, so obviously it is a bit larger than a domestic cat. More likely to be a thin Lab type dog... but it's anybody's guess really.
Might even be some kind of 'Dog-Dingo' hybrid as I believe that they do range in that area it wouldn't be an unfamiliar sighting I imagine to them, but that's just a wild guess!

*After a bit of searching on the web, found that there is an Australian dog called a 'Kelpie.' This animal seems to fit closely with the animal in the photo, there is also an all black form. It is quoted as standing 15 to 20 inches at the withers (shoulder height). Also, the Kelpie is used as a lone herder/farm dog, which apparently manage animals on their own without so much need for instruction to do their work.

https://www.roysfarm.com/australian-kelpie-dog/

*The Kelpie:

(*Note: Not to be muddled with the Scottish version of a Kelpie!)

 

[catseye]

Spot-on 'David,' the grass height on the left hand side of the path, registers approximately two feet - or less, that gives a rough idea of the height of the animal, so obviously it is a bit larger than a domestic cat. More likely to be a thin Lab type dog... but it's anybody's guess really.
Might even be some kind of 'Dog-Dingo' hybrid as I believe that they do range in that area it wouldn't be an unfamiliar sighting I imagine to them, but that's just a wild guess!

*After a bit of searching on the web, found that there is an Australian dog called a 'Kelpie.' This animal seems to fit closely with the animal in the photo, there is also an all black form. It is quoted as standing 15 to 20 inches at the withers (shoulder height).

*The Kelpie:
View attachment 34195

(*Note: Not to be muddled with the Scottish version of a Kelpie!)

Kelpies are Australian cattle dogs. They tend towards being skinnier and slighter than this image shows. But I suppose an older one could be fatter.

 

[catseye]

I didn't think Cats indoors was such a big thing in Australia certainly not in my experience. Not compared to the US, even though it probably has a greater cause due to the wildlife. Victoria has its "must be kept in at night" law but that's about it.

Most farms have cats - this is obviously to keep rodents down.

https://www.rspca.org.au/adopt-pet/adopting-catkitten

I've walked around loads of suburbs in Australia and a few town centres and NEVER seen a cat. I remarked on it at the time. London suburban streets are littered with cats, lying in the sun or walking along walls or just loitering in their way. In all the suburbs and towns I've been to in Australia, I have never encountered one cat. I've never even seen one inside looking out through a window either. I presume that either my experience is atypical and I've just been unlucky and all the cats come out to play once I've passed by, or very few cats are kept domestically. Loads of dogs about everywhere - no cats.

 

[Sid]

Kelpies are Australian cattle dogs. They tend towards being skinnier and slighter than this image shows. But I suppose an older one could be fatter.

Perhaps it appears to seem deeper chested in the photograph than what it really is, because if you look closely at the animal in the photo it isn't a full side-on view, but taken at a bit of an angle as it enters the reeds which accounts for it appearing to show the chest but not the abdominal area.