Mysterious Black Cats

I've read some fascinating and convincing accounts of mysterious cats, including apparently credible witnesses and photo evidence.
but how come no remains have been found? surely someone would eventually stumble across a dead puma.

The remains of dead animals aren't often found in the wild, especially when you aren't looking for them. Other animals eat remains and lots of factors cause the remains of animals to disappear quite quickly.

You still have to wonder why no one wants to go looking for these big cats to study them, you hear of sightings see far off pictures of them but never do you hear of scientists or big game hunters going out to look for one of these big black cats. I'd like to hear if these big black cats might have made a whole new species like crossed with a mountain lion or some other wild cat like a lynx or something. I mean you hear of new breeds of dogs non allergenic, can't big cats create & breed new species of big cats like a black puma say mixed with a lynx or a lion or a tiger. Think of the endless possibilities of those big cats creating a whole new species of big more wild & more aggressive cat. The movie cat people comes to mind the black big cat that rips off that guys arm, more aggresiveness a lot more wild feral big cat.

Originally posted by MisticDragon
I'd like to hear if these big black cats might have made a whole new species like crossed with a mountain lion or some other wild cat like a lynx or something.

There aren't any wild cats in the UK and the UK has the highest sighting rate at the moment I believe.

Originally posted by shorty

Originally posted by MisticDragon
I'd like to hear if these big black cats might have made a whole new species like crossed with a mountain lion or some other wild cat like a lynx or something.

There aren't any wild cats in the UK and the UK has the highest sighting rate at the moment I believe.

I do believe there actually indiginous wildacts in the UK.....

Scottish Wildcats

Prior to extensive farming and land clearance a few centuries ago, Wildacts, Wolves, bears and Boars roamed freely across much of the UK. Now the Bears and wolves are extinct, the wildcats are confined to Scotland and the Boars to one remaining patch of ancient forest, The Forest of Dean.

Originally posted by stumason
Prior to extensive farming and land clearance a few centuries ago, Wildacts, Wolves, bears and Boars roamed freely across much of the UK. Now the Bears and wolves are extinct, the wildcats are confined to Scotland and the Boars to one remaining patch of ancient forest, The Forest of Dean.

My mistake, but it seems unlikely wildcats could travel from scotland to Cornwall and if they did what are the chances they'd mate with these other animals?

Originally posted by shorty

Originally posted by stumason
Prior to extensive farming and land clearance a few centuries ago, Wildacts, Wolves, bears and Boars roamed freely across much of the UK. Now the Bears and wolves are extinct, the wildcats are confined to Scotland and the Boars to one remaining patch of ancient forest, The Forest of Dean.

My mistake, but it seems unlikely wildcats could travel from scotland to Cornwall and if they did what are the chances they'd mate with these other animals?

Probably bugger all! Just thought I would point out we do have some wild animals left in the UK

[edit on 13/9/05 by stumason]

some people have suggested the cats started appearing in England after a new law was introduced that banned keeping dangerous animals as pets.
do you think this theory has any merit?

The first pic IS a house cat...fat and big, but still a House cat... now they can grow alot more when they feed on rats and other animals.

I have 2 black cats and they look like copies of these pcitures.

The "mystery" black cats are suppose to be Panthers.

sounds to me like someone got carried away with breeding. If they can come up with a bengal cat (half bengal tiger half cat) then I figure they can come up with anything. However, I am hoping that it is a black panther. I was pretty bummed that they died off.

Originally posted by BaastetNoir
The first pic IS a house cat...fat and big, but still a House cat... now they can grow alot more when they feed on rats and other animals.

How many house cats have such broad and muscular chests?



It's far too long IMO.

The general opinion seems to be that they're Puma's or Panthers released when the dangerous animals act came in, in 1976 (I think, UK).

Black Puma (Ears seem closer to that of the first Pic that the Panther's ears, which don't appear pointed enough)

Panther


And even if the first picture is a big house cat, it doesn't remove the fact that there do seem to be a huge number of big black cat sightings in areas they are not indigenous to.

someone once suggested to me a few years back was that it was interesting that these cats tended to be spotted in summer (probably due to more tourists in the regions). However he suggested that this was a cat held after the Wild Animals act that might be left to prowl whilst the owner went on holiday - and then was pulled back in after the owners return. Im not giving any creedence to the theory - but it seemed as good as any at the time and explained why the cat was spotted at particular times and then no trace for a long period after.

As to concerted attempts to track/find the cat(s) I believe at least one of the cable science shows over here did document a group of individuals who had banded together to perform such a search and was filmed meeting up.

It should however be noted that most reports of the cat(s) turn up in tabloid newspapers during what we term "the silly season" when the absence of political news - due to the summer recess of parliament lends itself to more time for less pressing articles (and one of these newspapers does have an unofficial moto of "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story").

At the most that first picture is a Black Woods (wild) cat, not a panther...he seems bigger than a house cat, but not big enough to be a panther or a leopard. On the other hand the head seems to be too small for the rest of the body.

And when regular cats hunt, they do stretch their neck attempting to see over the grass... and the cat in the first picture is definetly searching or hunting for something, that is not the normal cat posture.

Originally posted by BaastetNoir

At the most that first picture is a Black Woods (wild) cat, not a panther...he seems bigger than a house cat, but not big enough to be a panther or a leopard.

The black domestic cat below do look slightly more alike in the face looks slightly more like the first picture than the Panther or the Puma.





We don't get many wild cats here in the UK (until earlier in the thread I thought we had none) and the ones we do seem to be in Scotland and that area only and I think that picture is in the UK but I'm not certain.

Seems the most likely explaination is it's a fake. It looks most like a domestic cat but bigger than a domestic cat. Perhaps the body of a Panther or Puma with a cats head photoshopped on top? The head doesn't seem to suit the body.

Mountain lions/cougars/pumas/catamounts/screamers/ghost cats/whatever-you-want-to-call-them are known for having small heads that don't quite fit the rest of their body, as you can clearly see in this picture. You can also see that the ears are slightly pointed, similar to that of the disputed picture. Still, the face looks incorrect to me.

I've never seen a black mountain lion, although there have been many sightings (this website claims one was filmed, but does not offer the film for viewing; if anyone can find it, that would be most helpful). It's possible that they exist; melanistic cats (cats with dark or black fur) have been recorded everywhere, the most popular being the so-called "black panther", which is really just a melanistic leopard or jaguar. Melanism has been reported in several species of big and small cats, including servals (picture), African golden cats (picture), and tigers (pictures and information), just to name a few.

Originally posted by shorty

Originally posted by BaastetNoir
The first pic IS a house cat...fat and big, but still a House cat... now they can grow alot more when they feed on rats and other animals.

How many house cats have such broad and muscular chests?



It's far too long IMO.

The general opinion seems to be that they're Puma's or Panthers released when the dangerous animals act came in, in 1976 (I think, UK).

Black Puma (Ears seem closer to that of the first Pic that the Panther's ears, which don't appear pointed enough)

Panther


And even if the first picture is a big house cat, it doesn't remove the fact that there do seem to be a huge number of big black cat sightings in areas they are not indigenous to.

we used to have a cat Felix he was a cross between a feral/siamese when he looks like a black panther much more than the first photo of the black cat. Its definately a normal house cat. The shape of its head is nothing like what a wild large cats head is like look at the difference with the muzzle compared to the other pics and i cant see that it has a broad muscular chest looks pretty podgy to me

[edit on 25-9-2005 by mojouk]

Originally posted by mojouk
i cant see that it has a broad muscular chest looks pretty podgy to me

The size of the chest gives the illusion of muscle more so than it does fat IMO.

It could be a house cat, I agree, but it seems too big to be a house cat to me but I'm hardly a cat expert, nor a big cat expert, just someone with an interest in the "mysterious" black cats.

Even if the first cat is a house cat, it doesn't strip the fact that there are definitly some type of big cats wild in the UK.

I think there are far to many eye witness accounts to dismiss this and if they were going to make something up, why make up a story about seeing a big cat when there are other things you could make up that would bring you a lot more money and attention?

i agree that there have been alot of sightings of big cats in the UK. There was sightings of large cats on Hayling island near portsmouth inhampshire a few years ago. Just that i dont think the first picture is nothing more than a house cat

Originally posted by shorty

Originally posted by BaastetNoir
The first pic IS a house cat...fat and big, but still a House cat... now they can grow alot more when they feed on rats and other animals.

How many house cats have such broad and muscular chests?

They're house cats afterall.
Hardly active compared to wild cats.
Maybe the large muscles on that "house" cat have something to do with running around the fields all day and having to kill/scavenge its own food, rather than having to live in a house, climbing table tops to lick some bread crumbs, and chasing pieces of string.

[edit on 10/1/2005 by Logical_Psycho]

Originally posted by Logical_Psycho
They're house cats after all.
Hardly active compared to wild cats.
Maybe the large muscles on that "house" cat have something to do with running around the fields all day and having to kill/scavenge its own food, rather than having to live in a house, climbing table tops to lick some bread crumbs, and chasing pieces of string.

I doubt if this argument works. Many, many "house cats" are out all day, hunting, playing, who knows? But they keep the same build. Not all house cats lay around the house all day.
Whereas African Lions lay around trees all day long, yet they've got amazingly powerful muscles. They're build like that - it comes naturally with little effort. Another example is Staffordshire Terriers. They're build like they spend all day in the gym - yet they actually sleep all day long... My guess is the same goes for this cat. It's naturally build this way, and didn't come from doing push-ups all day. So to speak.