Alien Big Cats ('ABCs')

[ZVZ__]

My Dad rekons he saw one about 2 months ago: he was out on the golf course (Mile End, just outside Oswestry, Shropshire, if anyone's interested) at about 7am when he saw something black, moving in what he describes as a cat-like way and roughly the size of a Labrabor, running across the fairway.

Of course he later found out that the groundskeeper owns a black labrador, which is allowed to run around on its own first thing, but he's reluctant to let a fact like that get in the way of his perfectly good story.

 

[Anonymous]

I have once shot an ABC. One night many years ago I was out spotlighting with my father, uncle and a cousin my age (late teens). We had been asked to thin out the foxes that had been killing new-born lambs on a friend's property in North-east Victoria, (SE Australia) and were driving past a nearby swamp on our way in to the area. We had been running the spotlight over the landscape as we slowly drove along with a view to picking off any vermin we might come across.

Some bright green eyes, obviously a feral cat, were picked up about 50 metres from the track. As it was my turn to shoot, I lined them up and fired. They immediately went out and we could see something dark thrashing on the ground. So as not to leave a wounded animal to die in pain I walked out along the beam to finish it off. As I approached, its struggles ceased and it died, but by then I was close enough to be astounded at its size. For a moment I wondered if I hadn't shot a small panther. I called for the others to come over and see it. It was a jet black cat as least as large as our cocker spaniel. I'd seen some big moggies, but this one took the biscuit!

Now, there was no doubt in our minds that what we had before us was a huge feral cat. Its jaw structure was that of a cat and its bodily proportions were that of a cat. No way could it be said to resemble the leopards or pumas in the Melbourne zoo. It was a giant among cats, but a cat none the less.

How does this qualify as an ABC? Well, placental cats are definitely alien to Oz, although they have more than made themselves at home here. Since then I have been convinced that many ABC sightings are no more than glimpses of large feral cats, seen where no scaling comparisons can easily be made.

This view was reinforced last year when my wife and I were travelling the Tanami Track between Wolf Creek Crater and Halls Creek. We were pushing along through the dusk to reach Halls Creek before the light went, when a huge cat-like creature sprang across the road about 75 metres in front of us. "What the Hell is that?" I said, to which my wife replied, "You think it's a bush panther, don't you!"

The creature stopped about 10 metres off the track and crouched behind a stump as we came up. As we drew level it stood up and looked at us so we could see it clearly. It was a very large tabby cat. Not quite as large as the one I had shot all those years ago, but perhaps as big as a fox terrier. In the dusk our initial glimpse had made it look enormous - a trick of the light and the lack of anything to judge its size by had convinced us that it was several times its true size. It also looked jet black, when its actual colour was common or garden tabby.

I know a number of people, all of whom are reliable and sober witnesses, who claim to have encountered "bush panthers" while moving around the bush. However, my own experience encourages me to think that their identification of a "bush panther" was mistaken, but that the circumstances didn't allow them to correct that mistake.

 

[Lurcio]

I think I've seen one - about a year or so ago, around 4 pm. Sun was setting, I looked down into fallow field behind my house, and in the middle there was a large black cat crossing east to west. As it's a big field it's hard to get an exact idea of scale, but if it was a domestic cat it must have been a very big one, plus there's no pet black cats round here that I know of (it's a very small village). It definately wasn't a dog, fox, etc

Also, in that direction there's no buildings for a few miles, only the M5 and a railway track.

Nobody's lost any livestock that I know of or anything.

 

[littleblackduck]

Eastern Cougar confirmed

For decades scientists have poo-pooed the existence of a population of Eastern Cougar (Mountain Lion) in New Brunswick, Canada despite several sightings, but DNA evidence has finally confirmed the presence of this ABC.

Eastern Cougar Confirmed by DNA

I never doubted myself. New Brunswickers are good woodsmen and if they honestly believe they saw a cougar or its tracks, then you can bank on it.

Now all they have to do is find the fur or photographic evidence from the black "panthers" to prove that the people who saw black ABCs are also telling the truth--probably melanistic Eastern Cougar.

Most of the odd cats I have seen myself have been Lynx/Bobcat sized and could have been housecats but some of the Cougar sightings are from my home county.

 

[hedgewizard1]

Melanistic Felis concolor are very rare. They seem to occur in Mexico and Latin America. I don't think any have been definitely identified in eastern North America.

 

[Anonymous]

My dad saw a lynx-like creature. He was driving home from work, so it must have been around 5 or 6pm. He turned a corner to see a collie-sized cat walking across the road. It sauntered across the road slowly, with the kind of swaggering movement that cats have. He says it was a dust brown colour, with a short tail and tufted ears, and the shoulder blades were very pronounced. It didn't stop but simply carried on into the bushes on the other side of the road.
It wouldn't suprise me, having lynx's around yorkshire. Countryside, farms. Perfect habitat.

There's also been numerous panther sightings around my area, one as close as two streets away Most have them have been around the fields not too far away though. I've yet to see it myself though...

 

[wembley8]

Should be fairly easy to prove about the lynx - they mark territory with droppings and scent markings, and leave scratch marks and tracks that are unlikely to be confused with a dog's.

However, we always seem to just get sightings...

 

[Anonymous]

A suggestion and a thought in re this thread--

Suggestion-- when people post to this thread they might want to indicate where they are (or were at the time of events reported.)

Thought-- one's opinions about the nature of discussions of ABCs may be greatly affected by one's location. Here in the upper Rio Grande Valley of Northern New Mexico there are vast tracts of undeveloped wilderness. The official line is that there are no cougar/puma/mountain lions left here, but many of my neighbors have seen them. The official line is that there have been no lynx here in historic times, but I have seen one (and my childhood contained both lynx and bobcat, and I can tell the difference.) The cat in question was slowed by permanent injury and may have ranged well out of its normal territiory, but it was here to be seen.

The point being that I hear of such a thing and think nothing of it--the climate etc. are appropriate to the critter, and even if it no longer is part of the usual range, nothing exists to prevent it from living here, and my world contains bear and elk and deer and coyotes and foxes and bobcat and eagles etc etc. Certainly the population density is too thin for a given puma to notice that its higher than the books say he'll tolerate. If the forest service says it doesn't happen, that's their opinion-- they occasionally say some silly stuff, just as I do. If the same sightings happened in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey (tailored suburbia) I would look at it differently, and if it happened in Cambridge, Mass (low rise urban) it would be quite strange. And if I'd lived in Cambridge all my life it would likely seem positively fortean. I would guess that much of Great Britain has less wildlife than Cambridge (Massachusetts) or Mountain Lakes, but it must still make a difference where you are, urban, suburban, village or town? And there must have been native cats once? And does less mean fewer animals or fewer types? And am I guessing wrong? The presence of a puma in Taos is no big deal-- the presence of one in Mountian Lakes is an oddity, but not exactly an anomaly. The presence of one in the Okeefenokee Swamp or the Bayous of Louisiana would be peculiar enough to be a mystery. But the presence of one in Yorkshire? It could not be native could it? But what's the environment like? Is the climate too wrong? Is the population density too high? I honestly don't know whether there's food and weather to sustain a puma, let alone a jungle creature like a jaguar. Clearly there is a mystery here, but of what sort and how big-- are we asking the provenance of a specific cat, tracking the existence of a previously unsuspected population, or theorising a previously unknown species which is being mistaken for puma or jaguar? Is the wildlife otherwise limited to skunks and squirrels, or do you still have the occasional wolf? Has the universally adaptable coyote reached your shores yet, or is Nova Scotia still its eastern limit? How strange and out of context does a big cat seem?

With the Tasmanian Sea Monster or the Coelicanth or the Skunk Ape I know what "Cryptoness"is being examined-- but with ABCs its not always so clear. Is it crocodiles in the city sewer, plesiosaurs, or Yeti?

And a minithought-- twice in the last five years I've seen honest-to-god roadrunners in Taos. They supposedly do not belong here-- too high up-- and I assume they didn't last long. But they do belong in Las Cruces, 6 hours drive to the south, and I figure they somehow got aboard freight trucks or such and made a day trip up here. We've all heard the stories of kittens in shipping containers, snakes in suitcases, etc. How strange is it really for anything to turn up anywhere-- populations and traffic are so much higher than in any of our childhoods that one would expect more and more transplanting, no ? Is displacement really enough to make something interesting if it is otherwise well understood? Or is it just that it WAS strange and interesting when we were developing our concept of strangeness?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Legends and myths of the urban jungle

November 25, 2004

THE "big cat" urban legend is about to be challenged by a pay-TV documentary crew.

For years, the myth has fascinated residents on the outskirts of Sydney.

Sightings of panther-like creatures in bushland stretching from Sydney's west to Lithgow became frequent enough for the NSW Government to keep a now not-so-secret file on the phenomenon.

At the risk of being a party pooper, I can only imagine that, despite the investigative skills of the TV crew, who pursue these types of paranormal animal activity worldwide, they will fail to resolve the mystery.

More likely, in their quest for the truth, they will come across a few not-so-natural wonders.

The first cat they will see will be no challenge to unearth. No need to take bushwalking shoes, just drive along one of the main arteries of the Nepean Valley, Mulgoa Rd, and follow your nose to the signage displaying a feline.

Since it evolved in the '80s on fertile land near the river that snakes between the valley and the mountains, the castle of entertainment that is Panthers Leagues Club has survived and thrived through extraordinary times.

It has done more than stay alive and healthy in a political environment not kind to its species. It has proven to be the fittest of them all, swallowing up the dormant space around it to become the gargantuan empire it is now.

Does it hold the key to extending the lives of pubs and clubs? Is it the smoky air? Is it the loyal patrons who feed the hungry mouths of poker machines? Corruption watchdogs are determined to dig the dirt on the fistfuls of cash sustaining the ecosystem of this world of entertainment.

Inside, the documentary makers may come across several Panthers, should they venture into the jungle of the world of entertainment during a season that stretches between late summer and early spring.

The Panther's development from schoolboy to prime athlete is nurtured in the recesses of the world of entertainment where abundant streams of a bitter amber fluid flow.

Reported sightings of Panthers surrounded by fawning followers reveal that they are the kings of the jungle.

It used to be that the Panthers would remain in their territory well into their twilight years. Alas, these days, they are lured to greener pastures and more luxuriant watering holes in eastern locales.

Crikey! Not far from the world of entertainment, by the river named Nepean, there are rustlings behind the bushes.

Could it be one of the great puzzles of the paranormal? False alarm; it's only two locals engaged in a mating act.

In fact, a quick survey up and down the riverbank reveals several exhibitions of the same activity between those in the most reproductively randy stage of their lives.

Nature lovers would be well advised to stay away from vehicles parked by the river at night, particularly if the windows display a film of mist, so as not to disturb the couples during their mating rituals.

Those more interested in the early stages of mating might want to observe the participants at play after school hours and on Thursday nights at another veritable world of its own.

Like the world of entertainment, the main shopping plaza is extending the boundaries of its empire, fully metamorphosing into a mega-mall.

Inside, mating rituals ranging from subtle perving to pashing can be observed, as well as the end result of the mating process -- mothers pushing babies in prams.

A once rare phenomenon but increasingly more common in this neck of the woods is the fat cat. Evidence of its existence can be found in the parking lot of the megamall, where 4WDs and other luxury vehicles sit side by side with lowly Datsuns.

The fat cats inhabit acreages on the fringes of suburbia, where development meets farmland, which meets bush.

Adventurers will be disappointed with watching the day-to-day activities of smug fat cats, who prefer to keep to themselves, cocooned in their majestic living quarters.

If there is a wildcat to be seen in these parts, it's the miniature metallic jaguar perched atop a shiny hood.

It's a jungle out there.

Source

 

[Timble2]

Return of the Fen Tiger

Hope this doesn't constitute spam.

At:
http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/sto ... ryID=65296

Is the legendary Fen Tiger on the prowl?
Published on 22 November 2004
THE big cat is back.

The latest reported evidence for the existence of the mythical beast lies in his three-acre garden at Ivy Farm, The Green, Rampton.

The parish council chairman said the outside light kept going on between 2am and 2.30am on Friday but he did not go out to investigate.

But when walking with his Cocker Spaniel, Lucy, at 1pm later the same day he made the discovery.

Metal trader Mr Hale, 52, said: "Lucy picked up a scent. Because the sun was in the south-west it showed up the prints in the grass.

"You could see the prints clearly and the trail was about 60 yards long and went in a snake-like pattern, not in a straight line. The prints were the size of a clenched fist, similar to ones I've seen before."

Mr Hale says he has seen prints several times over the past four years and has seen the beast - or beasts - on two occasions.

"Both times it was either slouched down or running away. It's larger than a fox, about one-and-a-half times as big, and the tail stands erect. It's a light sandy colour with dark rings on the tail," he said.

Checking what he had seen against big cat information on the internet, the closest match was an African wildcat.

This time, Mr Hale was able to take more accurate measurements of the prints. Each is about four-and-a-half inches long, the spacing between prints is 22 inches in the forward direction and they are 10 inches apart laterally.

He is hoping this new information could help zoologists or other big cat experts help solve this long- running riddle.

Rumours of a large, cat-like creature date back to the 1950s and speculation is fuelled by every reported sighting - there were 34 in Cambridgeshire between January 2003 and March 2004.

The British Big Cat Society believes the Fen Tiger rumours to be true but other experts believe the tale to be far-fetched.

 

[Raya_Kaiserin]

I saw an ABC about two years ago...I was sitting in the back seat of a car being driven by a friend. There was 5 of us altogether, and I was behind the driver. We were driving through some countryside/farmland, and I was absently gazing out the window when I saw a large black creature walking (or stalking) through a field beside the road. Not expecting it I was stunned for a few seconds, then quickly yelled at everyone else to look. Unfortuneatly by the time they'd reacted we'd driven past and couldn't turn round to see.

Although I didn't get a very long look at it (so I couldn't see details such as coat patterns or tail endings), the best I can describe it was a small black panther. It was far too lithe for its size to be a dog, and its head shape was too cat like.

 

[Anonymous]

I was on a coach going up to watch Celtic play at Aberdeen yesterday.

We were South of Dundee, the middle of nowhere, I was gazing out of the window and noticed a small stream at the bottom of an embankment.

I did a double take as I realised what I was seeing, there was a large, jet black, cat like creature walking along side the stream. It was not a domestic cat and it was definately not a dog. It had a head/face like a cat and a long tail.

 

[Kondoru]

Taos John, much of GB is mixed farming countryside interspersed with villages and towns. (and woodland!) There are few spots in this type of land where you will be more than a mile from a farmhouse at least.

Towards the north and west there is open moors and low mountains. These are much wilder, but still not what you would regard as `true` wilderness.

our wildest country is probably millitary like salisbury plain, and motorway embankments...

But these cats do not seem to need `true` wild country. The sort of land they like seems to be mixed usage. woods and fields perhaps. they eat pretty much anything that goes I think. Not confined to any particular prey.

I think I told you about my friend seeing one in his garden. The cats, though they keep well out of the way and dont initiate encounters with humans, do seem to be aware of our habits.

 

[carole]

ABC at Durham Tees Valley Airport?

The place where I work is on the Durham Tees Valley Airport site (Teesside Airport), opposite the fire training school.

I was talking to one of the firemen this morning, who told me that they had sometimes seen a 'puma' when out on their night training exercises. One side of the airport site is next to the A67 and the railway line to Darlington, the other side of the site joins on to farm land, largely uninhabited with only a few farm builidngs and old nissen huts from the old wartime RAF airfield.

He told me the creature is black, about 3'6" in length (plus tail) and about 2' high. He himself has seen it a couple of times, and they have found the mangled bodies of rabbits and even foxes in the vicinity of the sightings.

Carole

 

[fluffle9]

i thought i saw one once. it was only when the man walking it came into view that i realised it was a labrador. i was quite disappointed.

 

[wembley8]

I saw a labrador-sized giner cat a few years back. I did a double-take and it had converted itself to normal size.

Tricky creatures...

 

[carole]

When I was a student I visited my friend, who was then at teacher training college at Bretton Hall, Wakefield.

We were walking in the grounds of the hall and from a pile of stones (I think it was part of a ruined building of some sort) a HUGE cat emerged. It was definitely a domestic-type cat with black and white markings, but it was about twice the size of a normal cat. Gave me quite a start.

Carole

 

[CygnusRex]

Never seen one and haven't been overly convinced by the footage I've seen Always seems to be too fuzzy, or nothing to judge perspective against, but this might get some results.
It would be good to see a decent snap of a tazzy or big cat even in low light conditions

Big cat search gets under way
By MATT NEAL
January 18, 2005


A SEARCH for big cats and thylacines in the Otways is under way using new technology from the US.

Independent researcher Michael Moss, of Richmond, is using what is known as a "deer-cam" to try and get proof that Tasmanian tigers and panthers call the large national park home.

Mr Moss said the camera was triggered by body heat and had been set up in the Birregurra area for about six weeks.

So far the only pictures taken have been of fallow deer and wallabies, but he remained confident. "Last year around March in the Otways I was contacted by a farming couple who had sightings in their area of a black panther," Mr Moss said.

It was not the first time a big cat had been seen in that region in early autumn so Mr Moss planned to relocate the camera near the farm, having failed to catch the creature with a trap last year.

"I'm quietly confident Ð there's no reason why it won't come into the area again," he said.

There are also plans to use the heat-triggered camera in the Simpson-Kennedys Creek area soon to follow up on thylacine sightings. "Because I've only got one camera, a lot of people think I'm looking for a needle in a haystack," Mr Moss said.

"These creatures are definitely here."

 

[Anonymous]

Big Cat Cover-up Down Under

Hawkesbury Gazette Wednesday 16 , 2005

BIGCAT COVERUP?

'Unsound' lab tests put dogs in the frame

by Gail Knox

DNA testing is the next stage in confirming or putting to rest "big
cat" sightings across the Hawkesbury.
Genetic studies may be the only foolproof method after claims
laboratory tests of panther droppings were unreliable.
Hazelbrook resident and amateur zoology enthusiast Mike Williams said
whatever animal scats were being sent in to the experts, they were
coming up with the same answer - that the droppings were from dogs.
To test this, he collected scats from a panther (a black leopard) in
Bullens' Animal World at Warragamba and sent them off to two
different laboratories for testing. One of the labs is among the
preferred sites for State Government testing of such material. Both
labs came back with the same result - a dog.
Mr Williams said he obtained permission from Animal World proprietor
Brenton Bullen to obtain the scats, which were collected ITom the
cage by one of Mr Bullen's cat handlers.
Mr Williams also sent fur collected from the same. animal to a
renowned expert's laboratory. This tiine the result was domestic cat.
"I can understand the fur result," he said. "Fur can be subjective;..
But with the scats, they had a stench of cat urine and gigantic fur
balls with bones.
"For whatever reason, the experts used by the State Government are
incapable of seeing the difference between felid (cat) and canid
(dog). .
"If they can't do the testing properly, the only thing that counts is
DNA testing." Mr Williams said he would like the State Government to
have DNA testing done on the scats still held by Grose Vale resident
Chris Coffey on whose property numerous panther sightings have been
made.
"Is the State Government saying all the 150 witnesses to the panther
(in the Hawkesbury district) are lying and all the evidence is
garbage?" Mr Williams asked.
He said when Mr Bullen's cat handler saw photographs of alleged big
cat faeces taken in Bowen Mountain, she immediately identified them
as a jaguar's (a similarlooking big cat).
Hawkesbury Mayor Bart Bassett told The Gazette on Monday he would
write again to the responsible authorities - the Department of
Primary Industries and National Parks and Wildlife Service - to carry
out DNA testing on the material still held by Mrs Coffey.
"We need to categorically rule in or out the existence of large cats
in the national parks backing onto our local government boundary and
private land," he said.

"There's huge tracts of forested land out there where these animals
could be roaming and breeding for decades," Mayor Bassett said.
"We want people who see or hear things they think might be a large
cat to continue contacting Council and not be concerned they'll be
ridiculed. We need to keep a thorough database to keep lobbying the
government over this issue." At the time of going to press, The
Gazette was awaiting
response from the Department of Primary Industries regarding the
reliability of panther test results, and if the government planned to
carry out DNA testing.

 

[chromehalo]

.

Homo,
how do you define stopping animal cruelty as anti humanitarian?
It seems to be the way that people that care about animals usually care about their fellow human beings far more and get involved in all sorts of humanitarian causes. On the other hand some people simply despise both humans and animals and take delight in witnessing suffering. Taken to it's logical conclusion we are animals, albeit slightly more evolved in some respects. People that are complacent about the suffering of others usually turn out to be complete cowards the moment they suffer themselves.

 

[Melf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfo ... 358759.stm

Reward offered to catch 'beast'

Farmers claim the creature looked like a black panther


A £5,000 reward has been offered for the capture of a "big cat" which has been terrorising a farming community.
The so-called "Beast of Burford" has been spotted prowling near farms and has killed several sheep in west Oxfordshire, according to farmers.
Foxbury farmer Colin Dawes told the BBC he saw the "large black cat" running away after killing three of his sheep.
Cotswold Wildlife Park has now offered to pay £5,000 to anyone who can capture the creature alive.

Mr Dawes told the BBC News website said: "The sheep were killed with the typical big cat hunting technique.
"It grabs them by the throat, strangles them and then rips out their throat before taking away the front shoulder."
He said his neighbour saw the big cat on the Westwell to Burford Road two weeks ago.
Pc Ray Hamilton, wildlife crime officer at Thames Valley Police, admitted there had been several sightings - but said this was not unusual.
"We've had sightings of everything you could imagine - pink flamingos, lions, dingos, wolves and even a giant ant-eater in Pangbourne.
"I keep an open mind, I have to, but I do think people mis-identify things.
"Something is killing sheep. I don't know what that is, but there is a possibility there's something out there, an animal that shouldn't be there, but I don't have any proof."
Antelope killed
Reggie Heyworth, director of Cotswold Wildlife Park, said the big cat definitely did not escape from the park.
He believes it is more likely the cat was released into the wild by someone who was keeping it illegally.
"In January an antelope at the park was killed and partially eaten," he said.
"The keepers, who have lots of experience with such animals, were convinced it had been killed by a large wild cat."
Mr Heyworth wants to put the creature in his wildlife park and has offered a reward for its capture.

(c) bbc 05
--------------------------------------------

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4356437.stm


Cyclist's meeting with 'big cat'
A cyclist has claimed he saw a "big cat" in an area of west Wales which has become notorious for sightings of unidentified large felines.
Dixie Tilley, from Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, was cycling along roads near the town when he saw what looked like a black panther.
He said he got within 40 yards of the animal and got a good look at it before it disappeared under a fence.
In the past, the Welsh assembly government has investigated sightings.
Mr Tilley told BBC Radio Wales he was cycling along a bike track when he saw the animal coming towards him.
"I though, oh that's a big dog. I was cycling quite quietly, then it saw me and went under the fence. It sort of loped across the field and I thought, that's not a dog," he said.
"I could see by the shape of its tail. We've got a cat at home and it's just like it, only this is 20, 30 times bigger. But it seemed to cover lots of ground, then it sort of disappeared."
'Shiny'
He saw some people a few minutes later and mentioned it to them. They told him there had been one spotted about a year earlier in the area.
"It was jet black and it was really, really shiny. It was bigger than an Alsatian but longer.
"If you see a cat, their back is flat and their head is low. A dog is more upright and a tail is swishing.
"I don't know much about them really. I've seen these stories in the paper and I've always taken it with a pinch of salt really, but having seen it, it's wonderful.
"It was out of the blue - a minute, minute and a half and it was gone. It would be nice to see it again."
In September, a family captured a black cat-like creature on film creeping through undergrowth near Welshpool.
A Welsh Assembly Government investigation concluded that the animal was just a domestic pet, but big cat experts were keeping an open mind.
Fears of wild big cats such as pumas and panthers roaming mid and west Wales have circulated since the 1970s, including sightings of the so-called "Beast of Bont" in north Ceredigion.
A expert was called in to investigate a suspected big cat attack on a Welsh lamb at Talsarn, near Lampeter.
Officials also spent time investigating an alleged attack at a farm in Llangadog, Carmarthenshire, in January 2003, after a dog was killed.
However, in that case, tests showed the attacker was another dog, although the breed could not be established.

(c) bbc 05

(please move if necessary)

 

[NilesCalder]

'Big cat' attacks man in garden
Library picture of Lynx
A Lynx was captured in north London in 2001
A man has been attacked after a large cat-like animal jumped out from bushes in his back garden during the night.

He was trying to coax his own cat into his home when the intruder pounced.

The man, who escaped with minor injuries, alerted police after scrambling back into the terraced house in Sydenham Park, south east London.

A police officer who arrived at the scene minutes later caught a glimpse of the cat and described it as "about the size of a Labrador dog".

The Metropolitan Police have mounted extra patrols in the area, which is largely residential and backs on to a railway line.

They have warned people not to approach the animal and to keep pets inside.

The RSPCA and London Zoo are being consulted for specialist advice.

Inquiries are also being made to trace exactly where the animal may have come from.

The man who was attacked was treated for his injuries by paramedics.

A large cat, thought to be a lynx, was captured in Cricklewood, north London four years ago.

The animal, which had been roaming the streets of London, was found "sitting passively" under a bush in a garden.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4370893.stm

 

[Stormkhan]

Some years ago, I lived in Sydenham. I utterly refute any implication my cats bred with any semi-recumbent wild feline to produce an ABC in the area.
Doesn't surprise me though. They could trot around Crystal Palace park without discovery easily.

 

[Mal_Adjusted]

Hunt for 'beast of Sydenham'

grreets

more:

Hunt for 'beast of Sydenham'
By Justin Davenport, Evening Standard
22 March 2005

Police have launched a huge search after sightings of a "cat-like" animal the size of a labrador in a London suburb.

Scotland Yard appealed for vigilance after a member of the public and a police officer saw the black creature, which has been likened to a panther.

An armed police response vehicle with officers equipped with rifles and Taser stun guns has been called in to patrol the area.

The "Beast of Sydenham" was spotted at about 2am today by a man in Sydenham Park putting his cat out. The man was attacked and scratched. He called an ambulance and police.

One officer believes he also saw the animal which he described as being as large as a labrador.

Scotland Yard said it was seeking specialist advice from experts from the RSPCA and London Zoo. A spokeswoman said: "We are trying to establish exactly where the animal may have come from.

"In the meantime we are asking the public to to be vigilant."

She added: "If anyone does see the animal, do not approach it but dial 999 immediately." People are also being advised to keep pets indoors.

The sighting comes as farmers near Burford in Oxfordshire have offered a ?5,000 reward for the capture of a large black creature suspected of being responsible for the deaths of livestock in the area.

Sightings of big cats have become far more common in recent years. The British Big Cat Society estimates that 50 to 100 are roaming across the country.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/17411511?source=Evening Standard

mal

 

[boynamedsue]

Really hope this is real.

 

[FelixAntonius]

'Big cat' attacks man in garden

......He was trying to coax his own cat into his home when the intruder pounced....

I keep thinking of it:-

"Here Kitty.... Kitty???......

Oh! S**T!!!!!"

 

[Stormkhan]

Takes me back to the reports of an ABC at Shooters Hill woods. Early sixties, puma-like creature spotted, cops and professional hunters crawling all over the place, no show.
Hang on - Shooters Hill park is very near where I was a kid, born in the early sixties ...

... nah. Probably nothing.

*Eyes his pet cats suspiciously*

 

[skitster]

Re: Hunt for 'beast of Sydenham'

grreets

Hunt for 'beast of Sydenham'

mal

I was going to got to see my mun and dad and visit the seaside this weekend but I may don my pith-helmet and make camp in Sydenham. It's only about four stops on the train from me.

 

[wembley8]

Wow, spot on my neck of the woods.

And no, I don't think there is a chance in a million that there is a real panther round there. Good story though!

 

[Anonymous]

Story from the BBC with a few more details on Sydenham Park ABC attack (culled from today's newswire):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4370893.stm