It's 'Big Cats In The UK' Time!

[BIAD]

I've been reluctant to post this article since it appeared yesterday, it's August and the House of Commons are
on holiday, a time when Journalists bugger off to their second homes in Cornwall or southern France and Silly
Season would normally be in full bloom.

But the 'Big Cats In The UK' controversy is now put to bed, yes?
We'll see.

BEAST OF BRITAIN ‘Clearest ever’ photo of big cat prowling the British countryside discovered by film-makers

'Film-makers have found the “clearest ever” photo of a big cat prowling the British countryside.
Researchers discovered the snap of the powerful-looking panther-like creature in long grass at a former colliery site.
It was taken by a visitor to ­Whitfield Valley Nature Reserve in Stoke-on-Trent, who accompanied it with a note
specifying the location. The photographer did not sign or address the letter and dated it March 17, but gave no year.



The pic was found in a zoology centre’s archives by the assistant director who said: “It’s clearly a large cat of the
Panthera genus. “It’s so clear we can even see its whiskers. "If it’s genuine, then it’s probably the best photo of a
British big cat that exists.”

The image is featured as evidence in a documentary on the existence of big cats in the British countryside.
Panthera Britannia Declassified also brings to light DNA evidence of at least one wild big cat near a sheep-kill last
year in Gloucs [Gloucestershire].

Producer Tim Whittard said: “This astonishing lost photograph and amazing new scientific discovery form only
a fraction of the collective evidence on display in the film. "The research process was intensive and exhaustive.
"We used real science and real experts and tried to be as objective and analytical as possible.”



He said big cats are probably the offspring of those released after 1976 when it became illegal to own them
without a licence in the UK. He said: “These majestic big cats were fashionable status symbols. The story is a
sad one really.” The film is available on Amazon Prime...'

The Sun:

[Bally002]

I've been reluctant to post this article since it appeared yesterday, it's August and the House of Commons are
on holiday, a time when Journalists bugger off to their second homes in Cornwall or southern France and Silly
Season would normally be in full bloom.

But the 'Big Cats In The UK' controversy is now put to bed, yes?
We'll see.

BEAST OF BRITAIN ‘Clearest ever’ photo of big cat prowling the British countryside discovered by film-makers

'Film-makers have found the “clearest ever” photo of a big cat prowling the British countryside.
Researchers discovered the snap of the powerful-looking panther-like creature in long grass at a former colliery site.
It was taken by a visitor to ­Whitfield Valley Nature Reserve in Stoke-on-Trent, who accompanied it with a note
specifying the location. The photographer did not sign or address the letter and dated it March 17, but gave no year.



The pic was found in a zoology centre’s archives by the assistant director who said: “It’s clearly a large cat of the
Panthera genus. “It’s so clear we can even see its whiskers. "If it’s genuine, then it’s probably the best photo of a
British big cat that exists.”

The image is featured as evidence in a documentary on the existence of big cats in the British countryside.
Panthera Britannia Declassified also brings to light DNA evidence of at least one wild big cat near a sheep-kill last
year in Gloucs [Gloucestershire].

Producer Tim Whittard said: “This astonishing lost photograph and amazing new scientific discovery form only
a fraction of the collective evidence on display in the film. "The research process was intensive and exhaustive.
"We used real science and real experts and tried to be as objective and analytical as possible.”



He said big cats are probably the offspring of those released after 1976 when it became illegal to own them
without a licence in the UK. He said: “These majestic big cats were fashionable status symbols. The story is a
sad one really.” The film is available on Amazon Prime...'

The Sun:

Crikey!  That's a nasty looking puss.  I cut a paragraph from the link'

Considering the park is only just over 6 acres after seeing the pic, if it is genuine I wouldn't go for a leisurely nature walk especially at night.  Very little hunting territory for the black cat.

Great post

Bally)

Witness the region's mining history at this former colliery. It's only a short walk from local housing estates yet is peaceful, a great escape

[BIAD]

Crikey!  That's a nasty looking puss.  I cut a paragraph from the link'

Considering the park is only just over 6 acres after seeing the pic, if it is genuine I wouldn't go for a leisurely nature walk especially at night.  Very little hunting territory for the black cat.

Great post

Bally)

Witness the region's mining history at this former colliery. It's only a short walk from local housing estates yet is peaceful, a great escape

"...Witness the region's mining history at this former colliery. It's only a short walk from local housing estates
yet is peaceful, a great escape..."

That comment alone would put a doubt on the whole 'Big Cat UK' phenomena as one would think the animal
must have been noticed after this undated photograph and then reported. Odd that the creature has never
been in the predicament to injure or kill a family pet or human considering the cramped location so close to
a built-up community.

I'm not denying the existence of released animals in the wild... a word not usually used when describing this
small island, but the emergence of this story and image closely connected to a TV show makes me suspicious.

[Bally002]

Crikey!  That's a nasty looking puss.  I cut a paragraph from the link'

Considering the park is only just over 6 acres after seeing the pic, if it is genuine I wouldn't go for a leisurely nature walk especially at night.  Very little hunting territory for the black cat.

Great post

Bally)

Witness the region's mining history at this former colliery. It's only a short walk from local housing estates yet is peaceful, a great escape

"...Witness the region's mining history at this former colliery. It's only a short walk from local housing estates
yet is peaceful, a great escape..."

That comment alone would put a doubt on the whole 'Big Cat UK' phenomena as one would think the animal
must have been noticed after this undated photograph and then reported. Odd that the creature has never
been in the predicament to injure or kill a family pet or human considering the cramped location so close to
a built-up community.

I'm not denying the existence of released animals in the wild... a word not usually used when describing this
small island, but the emergence of this story and image closely connected to a TV show makes me suspicious.

Yeah I get that.  My reply was sort of tongue in cheek as after reading the comment in red.  Still, I'm not aware of the TV show you are referring to but also found the story a bit hard to believe.  Enjoyed the post.

Reports of big cats in Australia are not uncommon.  Pics are not that clear.  Often look like a black cow or calf.  

I do enjoy stories such as these.  Was only just looking at a recent U tube vid of the Calvine UFO.  I guess it's just the intrigue of the story.  Photo appears many years later but the story has a dead end.  But...I still look at the story everytime it appears thinking there may be a break through in info.   This latest vid alluded to the jet in the pic being a Tornado but the jet looks much more like a Harrier.

Cheers and beers,

Bally)

[BIAD]

Yeah I get that.  My reply was sort of tongue in cheek as after reading the comment in red.  Still, I'm not aware of the TV show you are referring to but also found the story a bit hard to believe.  Enjoyed the post...

Yeah, it is a bit funny how the Nature Reserve promotes itself with that comment and yet, supposedly has
a panther sitting in its tall grass!

Reports of big cats in Australia are not uncommon.  Pics are not that clear.  Often look like a black cow or calf.  
I do enjoy stories such as these...

I'm fascinated by the Yowie, mate!

...Was only just looking at a recent U tube vid of the Calvine UFO.  I guess it's just the intrigue of the story.  Photo appears many years later but the story has a dead end.  But...I still look at the story everytime it appears thinking there may be a break through in info.   This latest vid alluded to the jet in the pic being a Tornado but the jet looks much more like a Harrier.

Cheers and beers,

Bally)

I'll have to take a look at that incident.

[Bally002]

I'm fascinated by the Yowie, mate!

...Was only just looking at a recent U tube vid of the Calvine UFO.  I guess it's just the intrigue of the story.  Photo appears many years later but the story has a dead end.  But...I still look at the story everytime it appears thinking there may be a break through in info.   This latest vid alluded to the jet in the pic being a Tornado but the jet looks much more like a Harrier.

Cheers and beers,

Bally)

I'll have to take a look at that incident.

I would have thought you had knowledge of the Calvine UFO.  As for Yowies there's plenty about them.  

I read an interesting story (American) about-----Daniel Boone killing a Sasquatch after it attacked his son.  Reluctantly told by Boone to an important associate.  Story was known by a few people and recorded.

Old stories of Yowies abound in Australia.  Newspaper articles etc.  In those days the telling of such an encounter was taken seriously but nowadays you're treated like a nutter if you talk about them.  Aboriginals spoke about them and shape shifting spirits.  There's a parallel there somewhere.

Stories I tell to certain folks about what I have experienced and seen, um, (pause) is like "Bally's believe it or not".  (Bally by the way is pronounced Bore - lee) 

I am skeptical of my own encounters with weird shit so it's rare I open up.  Yeah,,,Nah,,,moments so to speak.

I like your stories.

Kind regards,

Bally)

[Schmoe]

Looks like a melanistic leopard, which is a one-in-ten occurrence among the species.  I'd bet somebody's exotic pet got loose, or became too much to handle.  I wanted a bobcat for a while, but after watching some videos of them taking down deer, I think I'm good on that 

[F2d5thCav]

@BIAD

Hey, when it was time to put Adolf to bed, the U.S. tank destroyer soldiers had to let their mascots go somewhere. 

Cheers

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Must of removed the UFO lens for that shot!

[Ninurta]

I dunno, man. American mountain lions have a "home range" that covers about 20 square miles per cat. If that one is of such a size, or bigger, I expect being confined to a 6 acre preserve withing easy walking distance of a housing estate would be a bit... cramped. They should look for missing pets and children - a cat that size can't get by eating just grasshoppers.

=============================

Re: Yowies, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Daniel Boone. I live not too far from where Ol' Dan'l is supposed to have killed that one, which he called a "Yahoo" as I recall. He got that name from "Gulliver's Travels". This is the first I've heard of it having supposedly attacked his son, however. I know his son James was killed a few miles south of here at Wallen's Ridge in 1773 I believe - but he was killed by Indians. He did have another son, though, whose name was Israel, and a daughter named Jemima who was at one point kidnapped by the Shawnee. That particular kidnapping went poorly for the Shawnee.

Such critters have a long, storied history around here. Folks used to call them "wood boogers", and Booger Hole, WV is named after one that supposedly lived in that area. About the time the Patterson film came out, the terms "Sasquatch" and "Bigfoot" became popular, and tended to replace "wood booger" in this area. The name has changed, but the beast remains the same.

Before the white folks came, the Indians had various names for them, depending on the tribe. "Sasquatch" I think is from a northwestern or Alaskan tribe. Here, the Shawnee called them "msissingw" which is nigh unpronounceable as it is spelled, and believed them to be caretakers of the forest, guardians against overhunting and such.

But stories of them have been around a long time, long before Sasquatch" and "Bigfoot" were names the critter was known by.

.

[Schmoe]

I hate pissing on parades, but apparently it's a fake.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cryptozoology/c..._content=2

[Bally002]

I hate pissing on parades, but apparently it's a fake.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cryptozoology/c..._content=2

Good find mate!

Bally)

---

Re: Yowies, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Daniel Boone. I live not too far from where Ol' Dan'l is supposed to have killed that one, which he called a "Yahoo" as I recall. He got that name from "Gulliver's Travels". This is the first I've heard of it having supposedly attacked his son, however. I know his son James was killed a few miles south of here at Wallen's Ridge in 1773 I believe - but he was killed by Indians. 

From what I understand about the story Boone and his son were returning from tracking indian horse thieves.  They were separated by a short distance on the return journey to hunt.  Boone heard a shot, then another and took to the scene whereupon he witnessed his son being lifted and thrown lifeless to the ground.  

A well aimed shot to the eye by Boone took the big critter out.   Boone thought his son was deceased.  The lad recovered/woke up about an hour later. 

It appears from an impromptu autopsy the boy managed to hit the creature in the chest but the slug didn't penetrate that area due to how solid the chest was.  They left the big ape where it was slain and returned to tell the tale.

That's a recount off the top of my head.

Kind regards,

Bally)

[Ninurta]

---

Re: Yowies, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Daniel Boone. I live not too far from where Ol' Dan'l is supposed to have killed that one, which he called a "Yahoo" as I recall. He got that name from "Gulliver's Travels". This is the first I've heard of it having supposedly attacked his son, however. I know his son James was killed a few miles south of here at Wallen's Ridge in 1773 I believe - but he was killed by Indians. 

From what I understand about the story Boone and his son were returning from tracking indian horse thieves.  They were separated by a short distance on the return journey to hunt.  Boone heard a shot, then another and took to the scene whereupon he witnessed his son being lifted and thrown lifeless to the ground.  

A well aimed shot to the eye by Boone took the big critter out.   Boone thought his son was deceased.  The lad recovered/woke up about an hour later. 

It appears from an impromptu autopsy the boy managed to hit the creature in the chest but the slug didn't penetrate that area due to how solid the chest was.  They left the big ape where it was slain and returned to tell the tale.

That's a recount off the top of my head.

Kind regards,

Bally)

Yup. I researched it a bit, and read that tale, too. It was apparently transmitted by Lyman Counts Draper, who collected all manner of pioneer lore from around here. The video said the material was in the National Archives, but if it is, then it's a copy - Draper gave all of his manuscripts to the Wisconsin Historical Society, and they have been used over the years for all manner of historical research. Alan Eckert used those manuscripts to reconstruct pioneer life in this area for an entire series of historical novels regarding personages around here and in Kentucky, like Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, Lewis Wetzel, and a plethora of minor actors.

Draper noted that this particular tale came to him by way of a man who heard it from Boone when he was a boy. Daniel Boone had at least 3 sons - James, who was killed by Indians along with James Russell at Wallen's Ridge while trying to catch up to  the Boone party heading into Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap, Another son, Israel, was killed by Indians at the Battle of Blue Licks, a big salt lick in Kentucky. A third son, Jesse, was never killed by the Indians, and may be the one in the tale... or it could have been Israel, depending on when the event happened. It wasn't James, as he was killed in 1773 before Boonesboro was ever established.

While researching, I found a reference to Tasmanian Aborigines who called the "yowie" by the name of "yahoo". There was speculation on whether Swift got the term from British sailors who had visited Tasmania or not, but the consensus was that Boone got the term from Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"..

Also during that research, I ran across a few other references to the wood boogers here, mostly referring to the Jefferson National Forest, a patchwork of forests surrounding me that are administered by the National Forest Service. The only bear skeleton I've ever seen in the wild was in that forest, while climbing Brumley Mountain. As many bears as there are here, and as much time as I've spent in the woods here, it's curious to me that I've only ever seen ONE bear skeleton out there. If bears are so commonly seen, yet their remains are so rare, it's not a wonder to me that wood booger remains have never been found - that doesn't mean they don't exist, it just means nature does what nature does, and the remains melt back into the landscape like everything else does.

There is also a YouTube video showing what is supposed to be a wood booger that was filmed by two boys out riding 4-wheelers up a creek to the south of here, just north of Bristol. So, whatever was still IS. There's Things in these hyar woods!

====================================================================

Regarding the Alien Big Cats, there have always been tales of them around here, too. They used to be pretty common here, but over time were all allegedly exterminated. When they were common, they weren't "Alien" big cats, they were just a part of nature here. Pioneers generally called them "painters", our quaint way of saying "panther".

Fish and Game tells us that they no longer exist here, but I wonder.

When I was a young man, a friend named Donnie Miller and I went into a cave at the top of a cliff overlooking the Clinch River. The reason we went in was because we had seen giant rats in it before, 2 or 2 1/2 feet long not including the tail, and they built nests in there out of sticks, the nests being around 5 feet in diameter. But when we told people about them, no one believed there were rats that big, so we went back with a .22 rifle loaded with bird shot shells to kill one and prove our tale.

To find the cave on a map, if you extend a line right down the middle of Balltown Hollow, a hollow in River Mountain, Russell County, Virginia, until that line crosses the Clinch River, then the cave will be just on the north/east side of the line, at the top of the cliff there that is on the south/east side of the river.

When we got inside, we didn't see any more rats anywhere. The nests had all fallen into disuse. We found some rat-gnawed deer bones in the cave, but no rats. So, we thought the rats may have retreated deeper into the cave, and we of course went deeper, going after them to kill one.

There was a tunnel section where you had to get on your belly and crawl through a fissure about 8 or 10 feet, and once through it, it opened into a smallish room that was maybe 12 feet across and about as much high, with a dry dirt floor. No rats there, either. Off to the side, another tunnel, or rather an upright fissure in the rock opened. It sloped downward for maybe 20 feet, bottomed out, and then inclined upward. The upward section was soaked from water seepage, and was a muddy mess. In that muddy mess, we saw numerous cat tracks, the size of a house cat's track... but we were pretty sure that no house cat had tackled those giant rats. Upon climbing part way up that slope, we suddenly found bigger cat tracks, about 4 or 5 inches wide.

It suddenly dawned on us that the "cat" tracks were really tracks from painter kittens, and momma was in there, too. It didn't take us nearly as long to exit the cave as it took us to get into it.

I guess that might explain the rat-gnawed deer bones. Maybe it wasn't the rats that dragged them in there after all.

Once we were back out in the daylight, I mentioned to Donnie that it was a CAVE - protected from the elements, those tracks could have been hundreds of years old. Neither of us really wanted to go back in, though, and the absence of the giant rats didn't provide any further incentive to re-enter, anyhow.

Going back up the draw to the road, I did notice scratches in some of the boulders in the stream bed where moss had been raked off of them in patches 4 or 5 inches wide. So, maybe not as old as I had convinced myself they were in the cave.

Over the next month or so, a number of neighborhood dogs got attacked, some killed, some just torn up. A fella named Jackson who lived on the next farm over, about 3/4 of a mile away from my house, had a pack of hunting hounds roughed up pretty bad. A friend of mine, named Gilbert, had a pet dog entirely destroyed. It was a pug that had no fear and no sense, and it was ripped up pretty bad, deader than 4 o'clock. We found the same tracks in the mud near the body, so I got some plaster and cast the track, and gave it to Gilbert. I dunno if he still has it or not - that was 40 years ago or so.

Donnie died of congestive heart failure a few years back, so I reckon he doesn't mind me mentioning his name. He's not got anything to lose by it any more.

After about a month, the attacks stopped just as suddenly as they had started. i don't know why.

A few years later, in the 1990's while I was away from here, "something" killed a bunch of sheep and goats on a farm in Russell County, just across the mountain from my patch. Either 17 or 22 of them were killed, depending on who was telling the story. Folks were saying it was a painter, but Fish and Game saved the day by the simple expedient of telling them there was no such thing in Russell County, and hadn't been for well over 100 years.

In late winter or early spring of 2016, on top of a mountain at Vansant, VA between Poplar Gap (now "Southern Gap" - if you Google Map it, you'll see a small oval race track there where they race go-karts) and a building that housed Sykes Enterprises then, the Virginia Employment Commission now, I saw a big black cat hiding in the grass and weeds at the edge of a field where elk are known to congregate. It was a fleeting sighting, 10 or 15 seconds at the most, and all I can say is that it was a cat, it was way bigger than a house cat or a bobcat, and it was solid black. Folks would say that what I saw was a "black panther", but Fish and Game also rescued that, and says there are NO panthers here, have not been for well over 100 years, and that when they WERE here, none of them were black - cougars apparently don't go melanistic at all.

So, I dunno what it was, other than a big, black, cat-like beast. Couldn't have been a black panther, because there ain't no such thing, I'm reliably informed by wildlife experts... none of whom have spent as much time in these woods as I have.

In the same field, I saw a large wolf a few months later... but there aren't any wolves here, either. It wasn't a coyote - I know the difference. When I had a wildlife license, I raised wolves and wolf-german shepherd hybrids, so I know a wolf when I see a wolf. It had the rounded ears of a wolf, and the shorter, blunter, heavier snout of a wolf. it was about 5 feet long from the tip of it's nose to the root of it's tail, so, not counting the tail and about 3 feet tall at the shoulder. Big for a wolf, but not unheard of. Whatever it was, it wasn't a coyote... but it did appear to have an uncommon interest in elk, just like the kitty-kat did!

.

[BIAD]

I hate pissing on parades, but apparently it's a fake.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cryptozoology/c..._content=2

*Gasps at the suggestion that the media were in deceptive mode*


You... you mean a panther isn't living in a small English nature reserve surrounded by houses?!!!
Lawks-a-mercy, the articles use words like 'zoology organisation, unearthed' and 'Experts'... an obvious
sign that this fake image was worthy of scaring reporting to the public.

One might think this whole situation was a mere vehicle to advertise an up-and-coming documentary on
Amazon Prime! Surely this can't be so... surely the shite these competing companies churn out must have
some basis in reality?!

W-We have the letter that came with it and the Stoke Live newspaper even took the time to scan and
paste it onto their website. Oh my, I'm starting to have serious doubts on what the media say, these days.

Cheers Schmoe.

[Kenzo]

The internet is becoming filled with fake images , deepfakes , AI created pictures


A stunning blonde, 19, with over 100,000 social media followers, Milla Sofia is taking internet by storm with scantily clad portraits... but can YOU tell what's wrong with her photos?



It`s becoming too easy to believe  fake content

[BIAD]

I hate pissing on parades, but apparently it's a fake.

Forgive my earlier sarcasm, Schmoe, I guessed the outcome you offered would come to pass and
hence the reason I initially wrote that I was reluctant to post the article.


It is a sad state of affairs when the general MSM are low-balling their seasonal crap out in such
a manner that within a couple of days, their words are proved to be false. However, there were
the usual code words in the article that we all may look out for in the future.

"It’s clearly a large cat of the Panthera genus. “It’s so clear we can even see its whiskers..."
A quote from an unnamed assistant director working at an unnamed  zoology centre. (The Journo
didn't even capitalise the position of the assistant director or the centre's title!)

Rupert Murdoch's newspaper has never recovered from when it stopped having topless models on
its Page 3, but they're currently enjoying the word 'underboob'!

.................................

Edit: "...The picture, which has now proved to be a fake, was discovered by Carl Marshall,
a British big cat enthusiast, who works with the Centre for Fortean Zoology.
It was accompanied by a handwritten note dated March 17 – but it is unclear which year it
was taken..." - MailOnline:

[Schmoe]

I hate pissing on parades, but apparently it's a fake.

Forgive my earlier sarcasm, Schmoe, I guessed the outcome you offered would come to pass and
hence the reason I initially wrote that I was reluctant to post the article.


It is a sad state of affairs when the general MSM are low-balling their seasonal crap out in such
a manner that within a couple of days, their words are proved to be false. However, there were
the usual code words in the article that we all may look out for in the future.

"It’s clearly a large cat of the Panthera genus. “It’s so clear we can even see its whiskers..."
A quote from an unnamed assistant director working at an unnamed  zoology centre. (The Journo
didn't even capitalise the position of the assistant director or the centre's title!)

Rupert Murdoch's newspaper has never recovered from when it stopped having topless models on
its Page 3, but they're currently enjoying the word 'underboob'!

.................................

Edit: "...The picture, which has now proved to be a fake, was discovered by Carl Marshall,
a British big cat enthusiast, who works with the Centre for Fortean Zoology.
It was accompanied by a handwritten note dated March 17 – but it is unclear which year it
was taken..." - MailOnline:

There's nothing to forgive, BIAD.

I thought it was legit too at first, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that somebody's big cat escapes or is let loose.  As Ninurta pointed out, it would leave a trail of destruction behind it, in the form of corpses it ate.

I'm not familiar with the fauna of the UK, but surely there are some variety of deer it could hunt.

Hell, the only reason I started digging into it was the purpleness of the cat.  Some animals appear black in the shade, but then the sun hits them and they have a strange purple to them.  That threw me off, because the background looked overcast, but the cat was practically glowing.

Just because somebody faked this particular picture, doesn't mean that there aren't some big cats out there.  I'd bet there are.

[Ninurta]

I'm not familiar with the fauna of the UK, but surely there are some variety of deer it could hunt.

Hell, the only reason I started digging into it was the purpleness of the cat.  Some animals appear black in the shade, but then the sun hits them and they have a strange purple to them.  That threw me off, because the background looked overcast, but the cat was practically glowing.

Just because somebody faked this particular picture, doesn't mean that there aren't some big cats out there.  I'd bet there are.

There is always the chance that it's all just a smear campaign intended to upstage the troublesome Scots and their wild moggies....

.

[BIAD]

...I'm not familiar with the fauna of the UK, but surely there are some variety of deer it could hunt.

Yep, deer. But after sheep, a panther would have to lower its sights unless it went after a cow.
Dogs, cats, rabbits, badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels... that's about the average size of
creatures pertaining to the UK.

[BIAD]

There is always the chance that it's all just a smear campaign intended to upstage the troublesome Scots and their wild moggies....

It's probably just over-eagerness of a rookie-Journalist during Silly Season!