Why Do People Ridicule British Big Cat Witnesses

It was bigger than a retriever and had a long tail and was walking across the road diagonally in a slow, calm prowl — like a lion would walk. It was not what I expected to see!

‘It was all a bit of a blur and I was trying to think of what else it could have been. I know what I saw — I was trying to make reason of it but it was well and truly a big black cat. It was so unreal.’

Clare said it was the shape of a house cat and was very sleek and muscular. She said she had been subjected to jokes from her family since the sighting but she was worried about it wandering into a nearby village and possibly hurting somebody.

www.okehampton-today.co.uk... ehampton§ionIs=news&searchyear=2018


The jokes are apparently an automatic reaction. Very little thought goes into them. There must be a basic psychological need that is fulfilled when a standard unfunny quip is made at the expense of the witness.

Does anyone have a theory? What is the function of offensive jokes made at the witnesses expense.

I think it's because people think the world runs on a straight track and everything is what it seems. They are afraid to look outside the box in case they actually find out that the world isn't all that it seems.
They are happy in their little bubble and ridicule those who think otherwise.

I had and still get laughed at because of my theories on certain things. Humans walking with Dinosaurs, the Moon Landing and the media telling lies.

I just ignore it.

Take your pick:

Society has lines, big cats are outside of the lines. Ridicule gets people into your societal lines

People think they are smart. How could there be something they don’t know about, that they were not thought about. The answer is, there couldn’t be and the other person has to be wrong

a reply to: Kester

Because it makes shallow people feel better.

That said, there's not really any evidence to support big cats in the wild in Northern Europe. Lynx's maybe, but not cougars. Had it been a lynx, she wouldn't have seen a "long tail". Now, that's not to say a large cat didn't escape from a zoo, but one would think that would have been well known had it occurred. I would think big cats probably could survive in the wild there, but likely not sustainable populations.

originally posted by: Kester
Does anyone have a theory? What is the function of offensive jokes made at the witnesses expense.

I can tell you why.
It's a mental phenomenon common to people with low IQ. "If I haven't personally seen it myself, then nobody else did and anyone who claims they did is crazy, since the thing clearly can't exist as I've never seen it."
A lot of people actually believe that their lack of having personally seen or heard about something is legitimate proof of said thing's nonexistence. Low IQ exacerbates the phenomenon and makes it more common, as the ability to understand or imagine things outside of one's own perspective and experience decrease accordingly.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Deer populations are at a 1000 year high, we have a few non-native species too, rabbits are seen as vermin too. Their numbers are out of control. Food seemingly wouldn't be a problem, legal hunting isn't accessible for all and our wildlife laws are pretty harsh.

But then it would all depend on the species, most sightings are of medium to large black cats which would indicate either a melanistic mutation, a non-native species or a hybrid. We do have the Scottish Bobcat but many of these sightings are from the Midlands and southern UK.

I always suspected released pets, illegal ones hybridization is a possibility too. I mean the Eurasian Lynx is a formidable hunter and will kill deer... It's just not black.

Back to wild populations of "domesticated" animals. We've had a few, common problem worldwide really but felines don't usually lend themselves to being an invasive species unless we're talking the domestic cat.

As for the ridicule?

Meh, people are petty and small minded. Often find out these are the screamers from the rooftops when they happen to see something a little out the ordinary.

I'm always more surprised to hear that there aren't big cats of some type. North America has thousands, and they're not very visible.

All it takes is a mating pair, to have lots of big cat cubs

.

Cougars or mountain lions did not exist here till about six years ago. People who saw them were laughed at by the professionals. The DNR told witnesses of them that they do not exist here, they probably saw a bobcat.

Then a trailcam video showed one and more came out. The DNR could not deny they existed with all the evidence. They tried to say they were new, but then pictures from years ago came out and discredited the DNR's ignorance. They have always been here but not many people have seen them, they tended to shy away. If you would have shot one for evidence, you would have been fined and jailed, someone in the DNR knew they existed, they were keeping it from us and using intimidation to deny their existance. Usually these cats are not a problem, I am not afraid of them. I have seen a smaller one years back, I wasn't about to report it, I did not want to be labeled as crazy.

I suspect the same ad hominum techniques are used there to discredit sightings. One or two could have escaped. I understand that it is not good to scare the public, but come on, they should catch those cats before everyone's pets disappear.

a reply to: rickymouse

They're everywhere. The article has their supposed travel ranges, but they don't adhere to that. They're in both northern Alberta, and northern Saskatchewan. Likely northern Ontario as well, any heavily forested area.

I've seen articles before that try to state that certain animals aren't in a particular place, yet they're in the neighbouring area. Like they expect animals to stay inside certain borders 🤔

The cougar has one of the largest ranges of any mammal in the western hemisphere. Because of this, the cougar is called around 40 different names, such as puma, mountain lion, and panther.

Most of the cougar population may be found in western Canada, but it has been seen across the Prairies, southern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

www.canadiangeographic.ca...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

In the 1970's the Dangerous wild animals act was introduced , before the act some rich people had them in private zoos or as pets so when the law was brought in it's thought some animals were let free to avoid it.

That would explain their existence although there is no real evidence for their existence , they could be out there but I doubt it.

originally posted by: snowspirit
a reply to: rickymouse

They're everywhere. The article has their supposed travel ranges, but they don't adhere to that. They're in both northern Alberta, and northern Saskatchewan. Likely northern Ontario as well, any heavily forested area.

I've seen articles before that try to state that certain animals aren't in a particular place, yet they're in the neighbouring area. Like they expect animals to stay inside certain borders 🤔

The cougar has one of the largest ranges of any mammal in the western hemisphere. Because of this, the cougar is called around 40 different names, such as puma, mountain lion, and panther.

Most of the cougar population may be found in western Canada, but it has been seen across the Prairies, southern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

www.canadiangeographic.ca...

You see, nobody taught animals to read. Maybe we should get one of these idiots that say they don't exist there to go out and meet one in the woods and try to explain it to the big cats. Of course since they do not exist, they will not need a gun to protect themselves. They can start out light at first, trying to talk to an irate squirrel. Boy, some squirrels can be pretty intimidating sometimes.

a reply to: Kester

People as we all know mock out of fear, they choose not to believe that this may be the case because for one thing they have not seen it themselves and it is easier to imagine someone is mistaken.

The truth as most of us accept is that they are out there, they are breeding and if a person is ever or has already been attacked - one was but thankfully not fatally when he startled a black puma or panther like cat while walking his retriever and it lashed at him gashing his side - then it shall likely be covered up in some way, the main reason being that hunting these non native animal's down would be hugely expensive.

It is only a matter of time if it has not already happened before a child or small adult is taken and eaten by one of them.

Most are probably descendants of pet's, some perhaps escaped circus animal's and the animal's now infrequently seen may be either several breeding species, a single species or perhaps even a cross bred species of some kind.
www.britishbigcats.org...

But why would the Ministry of Defense want to cover it up, never mind the police or cash strapped local authority's but the actually military wing of the British government.
Well one reason may be that the largest areas were these animal's may be breeding free of human interaction would be on land owned or controlled by the military and they would not want people snooping around there for many different reason's, illegal tests and pollution and other reason's to keep people out of those areas which if the public caught wind would cause a furure among the concerned populace.
www.dailymail.co.uk...
www.bigcats.org.uk...

I think it is fair to say that most British people myself included believe these animals are:-
A Reality.
A Danger to the public.
A Non Native Species and a Threat to our native wildlife, livestock and pets.
Not being properly investigated by the government or the legally responsible body's whose job it is to safeguard the public.


Now here is an important point I am a cat lover, not a cat hater but the safety of children come's first in my mind.

a reply to: Kester

I wish I could claim the wisdom below...

"All truth passes through three stages.

First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

...but it was a philospher called Shopenhauer.

All I can claim is that his perception, in my experience, seems to match up with the way the world behaves.

Keep the faith!

a reply to: Kester

I used to live on Dartmoor (devon UK) Now I live in dorset From Bodmin to Dorset there has been Big cat sightings and it made me think when I lived up on the moor one early evening coming back into the village I saw a MASSIVE black cat... seriously I braked so hard got out str8 away with my camera to take a picture of it as was convinced it was either a panther or the bodmin beast....

Now got to the gate and looked into the field and there it was..... a brown fox! Point I am making is lots of people say they have seen it including me for all of 2 minutes. I was travelling about 40mph in my van and for that fraction of a second my brain saw something totally different. Recently I had an experience of something I cannot explain but for this incidence there was a totally normal explanation.

It is probable there are big cats on Bodmin and Dartmoor and also here in Lyme Regis. All have tales and linked to when big cats were licensed by the UK government so people simply let them go. Here in the southwest its a very warm and dry climate (except devon) and animals of this kind would thrive here but we are NOT a wilderness. Pretty much even on the moor you pass homes and businesses every half a mile of so, with the advent of instant photography there is little evidence for their existence. Maybe once upon a time but now I honestly don't think so.

So when people see them I well suspect it's similar to my own experience, just the mind seeing something that isn't really there.

a reply to: ChristianParr

These big black cats have canine faces....here in Texas ....it's like they are never seen except by a handful...so they're not cougars


Me, I'm an expert ...started with my first one at the tender age of fourteen, Irving Texas by Las Colinas C C....1968

Another thing...

Pretty rare to actually "see" a big cat. We have big cats all over the place around here and I've never actually seen one. Had one stalk me once, and I've seen plenty of signs, but I've never actually seen the animal. I would have never believed it, but a guy about 5 miles from us shot one in his barn a couple years back. Tried to attack his kid.

Big cats are smart (real smart) and they don't show themselves very often, even by accident. I've grown up in big cat country, and in 55 years I've never actually seen one. I know they're around all over the place, and I've seen pictures of some from friends (when they'd come into a deck or something up in the mountains). But I've honestly never seen one.

So, I guess anything's possible.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yup... there is the difference. 'Big Cat Country' This is england Even the moors are quite densly packed with people in some areas (Tavistock, Bodmin, Launceston and even places like Tintagel. The UK (england as the example) is NOT a wilderness in the slightest. Walk anywhere here and you will encounter someone, a farm, a shop... homes.. roads.. So the comparisons above don't really reflect the discussion which is predominantly about England. NOT the USA our topography on the whole is squarely different.