Typically Frustrating British Big Cat Report

www.whtimes.co.uk...

. . . he said the body was huge, had round ears, and sandy coloured fur.

The body was on the M25 slip road, leaving the motorway at Junction 24 for Potters Bar.

. . .

“There was a huge mess of road kill and as I glanced at it . . . it looked like a cougar or some cat.

“I’d say there is a 75 per cent chance it was a cat.”

Gavin was initially surprised by the sheer massive of “mess”, and assumed it was a large deer until he took a second look.

After chancing upon the corpse, Gavin said his mind was “spinning”:

So. Maybe an answer to why no roadkill has been found. Everyone's driving too fast.

If i hit what i thought to be a Big Cat it would be in the boot and off to the taxidermist.

I can kinda see it, roadkill generally occurs where you at going pretty quick just like everyone else on the road so haven't time to stop. This time of year and when the clocks go forward for BST are awful for deer etc to get squashed. Animals get used to the busy times on roads and since they don't have clocks, they don't realise that the busy hour suddenly happens one hour later on at this time of year.

To be honest... I will only believe when there is real proof. Sadly a road near me has a roadkill claim to fame.

Roadkill on UK roads

a reply to: paraphi

From your link.

unknown 15

Confirmed dead but unknown? That's crypto.

You'll believe it if you have a clear sighting. But it's not unknown for people to start denying what they've just seen within minutes of the sighting, and stick to that story from then on.

originally posted by: Kester
Confirmed dead but unknown? That's crypto.

Who knows? I hope I don't sound too sceptical about Big Cats because I think that some have been found in the past as lost/abandoned/escaped pets and private zoo animals. Whether there is a long-standing and self sufficient population is unproven.

originally posted by: Kester
www.whtimes.co.uk...

. . . he said the body was huge, had round ears, and sandy coloured fur.

The body was on the M25 slip road, leaving the motorway at Junction 24 for Potters Bar.

. . .

“There was a huge mess of road kill and as I glanced at it . . . it looked like a cougar or some cat.

“I’d say there is a 75 per cent chance it was a cat.”

Gavin was initially surprised by the sheer massive of “mess”, and assumed it was a large deer until he took a second look.

After chancing upon the corpse, Gavin said his mind was “spinning”:

So. Maybe an answer to why no roadkill has been found. Everyone's driving too fast.

And He Didn't Have A Cell Phone That Could Take A Picture Of It?

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

If he is on the M25 slip road i don`t think he would have had time to reach for his cell and then turn the camera on and take a picture of what he says he saw.

I saw a very strange roadkill at Alderly Edge in Cheshire a few months back, normally if it had been busy i would have drove by but it was quiet so i drove back. Then, because i only have a cheap phone with no camera, i got my Canon point and shoot and managed to get a couple of shots.

Not all of us have immediate access to a camera.

i look forward to reading about the follow up investigation to this alledged siteing

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

This is a slip road joining at junction 24. Joining you are accelerating, leaving you are decelerating/braking from motorway speeds. I doubt if anyone could safely take a picture of roadkill here unless traffic was at a standstill.

a reply to: fenian8

Can we see your photographs?

I have also seen a big cat, near Doveholes in Derbyshire-this was about 3.00am in January 1987. I was driving very slowly along a moorland road because of ice and snow, and saw a black cat in between the size of a lamb and sheep jump onto a stone wall by the road. I saw it for several seconds from about 30 feet away and was only about 5 feet away when it jumped back down off the wall and out of sight. It was definitely a cat of some sort. It was facing me and I noticed it had a distinct hump of muscle over its shoulders, although I dont know if that is unique to any particular species of big cat. Its fur appeared thick, rather than sleek like a domestic cat.

I live in Derbyshire and have seen some other odd animals/signs of animals there. As a kid in the late 1970s I found a sizable 'scrape' dug into the ground between tree roots, which contained several sheeps bones and skulls. Around the same time I found a large lizards shed skin on a rock up on the moors-this was about 8 inches long, so much bigger than any lizard I have seen. I have also found a roadkill porcupine on Woodhead Pass. Although I have never seen them, I have been told there are Wallabies around the area as well. It just shows there are some surprising animals out there if you look.

nope....it's a fact here in Texas........they get hit when young alot......black crypto cats here......I am the man when the big black cats are up for talking.

the crypto cat has a canine face....like a pit bull with a longer nose or a short nose lab........I will never shoot one, they seem to be my ally......but last April a one year old was found on the side of the road......possibly one of two seen following mom across a road.....a mom and two kits......rare sight

I spot em with my Armasight.....

the first sighting when I was 14, at 11 meters....I didn't shoot cause....that was someones dog coming by me......till I saw his tail.....told ya they have a dog face

a reply to: Kester

Yeah sure. It is very graphic though, so mods remove if you have to. As i say am sure its a badger, my point was, that despite "everyone having a cell handy" it`s not always possible to take a picture.

I will now have to go away and read the editorial on how to post my pics on here.

I`m struggling to post picture. I upload it and it disappears. Bare with me, in the famous words of Oates "I maybe some time".

a reply to: lawman27

I saw a black cat just outside of Buxton in Derbyshire in about 2003-2004. I was living in Scotland at the time and was down to visit family. There was 3 of us in the car on the Cat and Fiddle road. On the final bad bends as you come into Buxton I saw what i thought was a German Shepard dog on the moors. I was bored staring out of the passenger side window so naturally looked for its owner. I couldn`t see anyone near and then i noticed the tail and shape of the animal. It`s tail was thin and curled at the end like a cat and the animal was all black with very short fur. I can tell a dog from a cat ffs. It was walking into a manmade cave about 200yrds from the road. At that point i shouted to everyone else whio saw it as it disappeared into the said "cave". Definitely something strange stalks the Peaks.

I didn`t have a camera handy then either btw. Talking of which back to trying to upload photos.

a reply to: Kester

Now that's beyond frustrating! I can understand not taking a picture, while driving, but sheesh, couldn't someone go out to remove the carcass, and have it checked for the species??

Once, the hubby and I were driving, and he spotted something he thought looked odd. Mind you, he's not the one of us who would be looking for such things. Yet we doubled back, got off the road, and he walked back to check. Ended up being a raccoon that was lying in a very odd position, but it looked weird enough that he wanted to look! Heck, camera on video, drive past again, and check the video later, at he least!

There are bug cats over there, of course. That video of the one on train tracks proved that well enough!

a reply to: fenian8

Interesting, because it seems our sightings were no more than 3 or 4 miles apart-I wonder if we saw the same one or if thre's a colony?

maybe - a new thread to further investigate ATS members experiences in the peek district would be in order ?

i spend several days a month in the area - so the topic interests me

but as far as this thread goes - its 12 days since the alledged sighting - and no signs of any useful follow on

my " excuse " = " its a 248 mile drive to potters bar "

but the apparent lack of any initative by the locals is rather telling

PS - i am not refering to ATS members - but the newspaper reportage indicates tat there is " local interest " in such matters

a reply to: lawman27

The wallabies were/are near Leek. Some say that that colony has died out. I`ve always been led to believe that when the UK made it more difficult and expensive to own exotic or non indigenous animals that many owners released them into the wild. I really don`t know if that`s true.

And to I Ape, there are a lot more mysterious things going on in the Peak District but unfortunately I have never made a thread, i will one day when i have the time and courage.

Now, regarding the pics i have tried several times with several different pics. They upload and then disappear, any help would be really appreciated. File size???

a reply to: fenian8

There were never enough black leopards in captivity to account for the numbers seen. And they held their value so could be sold on. Zoos already had enough of the commoner cats like pumas so they were more likely to be set free.

The black leopards are a mystery. Unless you think of indigenous european leopards here since the ice age, melanistic due to the dense tree cover, plus Roman imports. Still the black leopards are a mystery when you take into account the Australian and US sightings. AnuTyr knows. www.abovetopsecret.com...

I've heard enough tales of black leopards disappearing to wonder. Including two occasions when police had a black leopard surrounded in a barn. They waited as long as they could, then went in, and found nothing. Nothing except on one of those occasions when they found owls. Shapeshifters?