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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
@Druk Probably better we continue on here. You are correct that one of the two guys would not commit to seeing a big cat:

"Commission spokesman Stuart Burgess said the sights had been confirmed by "very experienced" rangers unlikely to mistake deer for big cats.

He said today: "Both were observed in low light, using heat-activated vision equipment while they were carrying out a deer census. The colour of the animals couldn't be made out, but these are very experienced guys and they know what is and what isn't a deer. One definitely believed that what he saw was some sort of large cat."

The first sighting was at the outskirts of Churchill enclosure, east of Parkend in February 2002. The second was on the southern slopes of Staple Edge in March 2005."

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/reliable-big-cat-sightings-revealed-1229204.html

But then it seems the other guy did?
 
Paul_Exeter said:
@Druk Probably better we continue on here. You are correct that one of the two guys would not commit to seeing a big cat:

"Commission spokesman Stuart Burgess said the sights had been confirmed by "very experienced" rangers unlikely to mistake deer for big cats.

He said today: "Both were observed in low light, using heat-activated vision equipment while they were carrying out a deer census. The colour of the animals couldn't be made out, but these are very experienced guys and they know what is and what isn't a deer. One definitely believed that what he saw was some sort of large cat."

The first sighting was at the outskirts of Churchill enclosure, east of Parkend in February 2002. The second was on the southern slopes of Staple Edge in March 2005."

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/reliable-big-cat-sightings-revealed-1229204.html

But then it seems the other guy did?
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Do you see a mountain lion in the UK in this pic? (Disregard the house also in the pic).
Yup they said it wasn’t a deer,but are they big cat experts?The thermal back then was in its infancy for Joe Public,it won’t have been clear,I have had one of those early days thermals,difficult to totally ID an animal with it.
 
Druk said:
Do you see a mountain lion in the UK in this pic? (Disregard the house also in the pic).
Yup they said it wasn’t a deer,but are they big cat experts?The thermal back then was in its infancy for Joe Public,it won’t have been clear,I have had one of those early days thermals,difficult to totally ID an animal with it.
Click to expand...
Sorry,I apologise,in the original footage there’s a house to the left of the footage,the cats very close to it,this footage is cropped slightly.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
The Forestry Commission guys were in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and that footage is from Devon
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Yup,but still taken on thermal AND only one FC guy thought it was a cat,they saw a cat over a dozen years ago with thermal that was a bit naff :dunno:
 
Druk said:
Yup,but still taken on thermal AND only one FC guy thought it was a cat,they saw a cat over a dozen years ago with thermal that was a bit naff :dunno:
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And…..and…..and……if these UK black cats are not of this world….would they have a heat signature?
 
Druk said:
Do you see a mountain lion in the UK in this pic? (Disregard the house also in the pic).
Yup they said it wasn’t a deer,but are they big cat experts?The thermal back then was in its infancy for Joe Public,it won’t have been clear,I have had one of those early days thermals,difficult to totally ID an animal with it.
Click to expand...

a) Deer stalking “at night” is generally illegal in the UK. l accept that the caption might just mean “pre-dawn” or “post sunset”, though.

b) Thermal imaging kit was well-accepted and widely-used well before “October 2022.” I, for example, had a thermal monocular before that.

c) The imagery? IMHO it’s a feral/domestic cat.

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
a) Deer stalking “at night” is generally illegal in the UK. l accept that the caption might just mean “pre-dawn” or “post sunset”, though.

b) Thermal imaging kit was well-accepted and widely-used well before “October 2022.” I, for example, had a thermal monocular before that.

c) The imagery? IMHO it’s a feral/domestic cat.

maximus otter
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Thermal was used before 2022 but the FC chaps were using it 16 or so years ago when civilian thermal was shoddy to say the least.Yes it's a cat, if the footage hadn't been edited a house is clearly visible close to the cat.
 
806842AF-43D3-40CC-B3F1-CB54DCF78128.jpeg
 
maximus otter said:
a) Deer stalking “at night” is generally illegal in the UK.

maximus otter
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I'm pretty sure it's not legal here either. Though I would think any hunting with guns at night would be. I am assuming that the only way you hunt deer is with gun or bow.
 
brownmane said:
I'm pretty sure it's not legal here either. Though I would think any hunting with guns at night would be. I am assuming that the only way you hunt deer is with gun or bow.
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Sadly no bow hunting here,I do it in Canada however.
 
Druk said:
This strange chap goes bow hunting for British big cats…
Click to expand...

​

“11 Prohibition of certain methods of killing or taking wild animals.​


(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—

(b) uses…for the purpose of killing or taking any wild animal…any bow or cross-bow…he shall be guilty of an offence.”

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/section/11

:dsist:

maximus otter
 
I wonder whether there would be any mileage in someone setting up an actual experiment (possibly for YouTube), where members of the public are asked to guess the size of an animal from various distances?

What we'd need are some interested bystanders, a few cats of various sizes, a few acres of land and some variable weather. Also telling the bystanders that they are there for some other purpose.

It would be interesting to see how various people's assumption of size differs, particularly in different circumstances - for example a 'holy shit, look at that over there! What IS it?!?' as opposed to having one's attention drawn to 'look at that cat over there, he's a big boy, wonder if he's after rabbits?'

I do like a controlled experiment.
 
catseye said:
I wonder whether there would be any mileage in someone setting up an actual experiment (possibly for YouTube), where members of the public are asked to guess the size of an animal from various distances?

What we'd need are some interested bystanders, a few cats of various sizes, a few acres of land and some variable weather. Also telling the bystanders that they are there for some other purpose.

It would be interesting to see how various people's assumption of size differs, particularly in different circumstances - for example a 'holy shit, look at that over there! What IS it?!?' as opposed to having one's attention drawn to 'look at that cat over there, he's a big boy, wonder if he's after rabbits?'

I do like a controlled experiment.
Click to expand...

To a degree this work has been carried out by Charles Paxton, interviewed in the current issue of FT. He measured specimens in the National Museum of Scotland and asked people to estimate the sizes of the taxidermied animals. He has also carried out another experiment where a pole of known dimensions was placed a known distance from the shore in a lake. Oberservers were asked to describe what they could see.
 
gordonrutter said:
To a degree this work has been carried out by Charles Paxton, interviewed in the current issue of FT. He measured specimens in the National Museum of Scotland and asked people to estimate the sizes of the taxidermied animals. He has also carried out another experiment where a pole of known dimensions was placed a known distance from the shore in a lake. Oberservers were asked to describe what they could see.
Click to expand...
What were the results? Sorry, I haven't read this month's edition yet and it might take me a while to get round to it.

I know that humans are notoriously bad at estimating size.
 
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