Mysterious Black Cats

Sightings of mysterious black cats have been occurring again! The stories gained a lot of media coverage during the 90s and stories are hitting the net over again (though, I must admit, I may have been a bit slow in picking up).

2002

A big black cat has been sighted on several occasions throughout the district (Ayrshire) . This week it was seen again on the same Galston farm where it was spotted two months ago. At 4am the lady of the house woke to the incessant barking of her dogs. On looking out of her window, she saw a large black cat preening itself on the grass verge near her lane.

At the beginning of July a large black cat was seen in a garden at Darvel. The family's normally brave Alsatian first ran towards the animal but stopped dead in its tracks and returned to the female witness. At this, the large cat casually stood up and loped away into fields towards the old railway line. There were scratches on a tree there and hair samples and a fragment of claw or tooth have been taken.

Source

Said by experts to be an adult female puma - possibly pregnant - it was caught on camera in the St Austell area of Cornwall. Behind it, seemingly curled in a ball, there appears to be another big cat which, from its markings, may be a cub.



The creature's paw prints and droppings were also discovered at the same time on a local beach. The tracks came from a rocky outcrop which can only be reached from an extremely steep cliff.

For years reported sightings, mysterious footprints and slaughtered livestock across the Westcountry, have fired the imagination of people worldwide. Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin have all been credited with having their own "beast", but experts agree there is nothing mythical about these animals.

They are, most likely, large cats released into the wild following the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in the 1970s, which imposed new restrictions on the keeping of exotic pets.

Since then, the cats have thrived and bred in remote areas and could now number as many as 20, according to WMN wildlife expert Trevor Beer, who has spent many years studying them.

Source

Reports of these cats are not limited to the UK, the US and Australia all have their own big cats but sightings aren't as common as the UK.

Past UK hotspots have included Cornwall, Bodmin, Dorset and many other areas, particularly coastal areas. The latest sightings in the UK was in Bexleyheath.

sounds like the Rapa!!!! just kidding. the Rapa was name for a big giant black cat that is five feet tall even wen on all four paws. the book is called Temple by Matthew Reilly. pretty cool but outrageous book.

A paper in Gloucestershire has been reporting 'big black cats' around the place. some paw prints were found on a dust bin one morning too

Australia too. It used to be something you'ld be riddiculed for beliveing 'till recently as people started developing and moving into their territories. Now we too have photos and videos that can't be explained away.

Originally posted by suzy ryan
you'ld be riddiculed for beliveing 'till recently as people started developing and moving into their territories.

Yeah, I never understood that, it was never as if we were trying to claim it was a mythological beast of somekind, only that it was a normal animal outside of its normal habbitat and evidence for that exists.

First pic looks like a house cat.

[edit on 24-8-2005 by librasleep]

Originally posted by librasleep
First pic looks like a house cat.

The skull structure is completely different to a common house cat, and when comparing it with it's surroundings you get an idea of size, significantly larger than your average house cat.

yeah big cats, got them is aus thats right
dont know how they can manage to saty hidden though, they are pretty cleaver, when you think of how many other animals havent managed to remain hidden

Originally posted by tiddly54
when you think of how many other animals havent managed to remain hidden

And then think of all the other animals that do manage to remain hidden. There are millions are species of animals that are rarely seen.

yeah there is like 1.5 million catalagued species, and by some estimate up to 10 million species in total.
most of them are beetles
but how is a big cat supposed to stay hidden in a country like the uk?
it is more densly populated than china, and i imagine it hasnt got very much unmanaged land left about

Originally posted by tiddly54
but how is a big cat supposed to stay hidden in a country like the uk?
it is more densly populated than china, and i imagine it hasnt got very much unmanaged land left about

They are low in number, and as you have seen, they haven't stay completely hidden. Although the majority of England is developed, it is still not too difficult to find open land in any area of britain (and for that I remain thankful, christ, let's not over develop the place!). I would think a wild animal with the instincts we lack would be quite capable of staying reasonably well hidden.

[edit on 25-8-2005 by shorty]

Cats are also experts on not being found, and if these animals are indeed pumas, as they are thought to be, they can stay that way for a long time. They're not called "ghost cats" for nothing.

Perhaps those cats only exist in our universe half of the time

I'm thinking it's just some fat cats running around.
Maybe they've somehow grown to larger proportions because of the food they eat out in the wild, like rabbits or some other food.
Take a look at this fat, domestic cat:





[edit on 8/28/2005 by Logical_Psycho]

The black, panther-like cat, which eye-witnesses claim stands three feet tall, was last spotted in the summer of 2003.

But Welham Green resident Joanne Cetti came face to face with the elusive Beast as she walked her dog on Bradmore Lane at 6am just two weeks ago.

Full Article

This is about a twenty minute drive from my house!

I remember reading about some sightings in 2003 but they all disappeared quite quickly. Seemed to happen for about a week then disappeared, a few more sightings around that year and I went down there a few times in the hope of spotting it but to no avail. maybe I'll get another chance now.


[edit on 11-9-2005 by shorty]

I am originally from Cornwall and have heard these stories for a while.

Why hasn't some game hunter/tracker and a rich Felanthropist got together and caught one? Can't be too hard, surely? they manage it in the wild jungles of the world, why not sleepy old England?


Maybe we should look into...I am game for it.

Originally posted by stumason
Why hasn't some game hunter/tracker and a rich Felanthropist got together and caught one? Can't be too hard, surely? they manage it in the wild jungles of the world, why not sleepy old England?

Good question, maybe most professions in that particular field of science don't see any need to, in the same way other scientists don't feel the need to investigate the Yeti, flying saucers or little green men.

Would be interesting for something like that to be arranged, perhaps it already has been privately but I haven't heard about anything like that, well, not beyond a small group of campers trying to get video or photos of it.


[edit on 11-9-2005 by shorty]

I've heard about these sightings of these elusive big black cats, I used to frequent this other paranormal site that is no longer updated and they had a fair amount of articles on these big black cats some say the cats are bigger then an ordinary black puma. Some suspect it might have mated with some other kind of wild cat mountain lion or something and changed the species into something more agressive & bigger. I think for the time being scientists are working on other things and aren't so quick to want to capture these big cats, I mean it might just attack people for no reason if someone comes in close contact with it. Especially if its more agressive then normal big cats, I've heard they utterly destroy livestock in some areas viciously, if this is the case this kind of cat may in fact be something big game hunters might not want to be so quick to hunt, the old saying goes sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted. I remember the lion attack in africa that was made into a movie viciously attacked people and all cause of a tooth problem? if these big cats are agressive beyond say a lion. Would anyone want to really cross paths with a bigger more agressive beastly cat. Zoos I know wouldn't take one of these things fearing for other animals in the zoo. Would a big cat reserve even want one?.

Originally posted by MisticDragon
Some suspect it might have mated with some other kind of wild cat mountain lion or something and changed the species into something more agressive & bigger. I think for the time being scientists are working on other things and aren't so quick to want to capture these big cats, I mean it might just attack people for no reason if someone comes in close contact with it. Especially if its more agressive then normal big cats, I've heard they utterly destroy livestock in some areas viciously,

I haven't heard any cases where people have been attacked and I know a few farmers have blamed black cats for the killings of cattle but there is no evidence backing that uup as far as I am aware.

I think they're just straight up Pumas that were released when the dangerous animals act came into effect.

yes neither have I heard of any attacks on people but if it is a new species of big cat, there is a chance it is more agressive then most big cats, I've read the stories of farmers saying their livestock have been savagely ripped apart. That leads me to wonder just how aggresive and how much bigger these cats might be that have been spotted. I mean no one seems to want to exactly capture the big cats or study them, you have to wonder why they haven't been looking to capture one, but say hypothetically speaking if they did where could they put one idf its too aggresive it would make sense to not try to put it with other animals like in a zoo so that leaves a big cat sanctuary but even then if it is indeed so wild and overly agressive it might not do good with other big cats territorial thing and dominance too.