Injured horse in Scotland 'attacked by puma'

Police have warned the public not to approach big cats after a suspected puma attack on a horse in Ayrshire.

The animal's owner found it badly injured near Sundrum Holiday Park in Coylton on Friday, with claw and slash marks on its hind quarters.

Experts called in to examine the injuries said they were probably caused by a big cat, possibly a puma.

news.bbc.co.uk...

It appears we've got good evidence of a big cat roaming the west coast of Scotland here. It still amazes me that these cats can remain so elusive for so long!

Here's where Coylton is:

Google Map

I hope the horse wasn't too badly injured! The only thing that puzzles me about this story, is why would the cat go for large mobile prey, like a horse, when there's plenty of sheep in the area? Surely they'd be an easier catch? I can't see any reports of livestock mauling anywhere else in the area.

The only thing that puzzles me about this story, is why would the cat go for large mobile prey, like a horse, when there's plenty of sheep in the area? Surely they'd be an easier catch?

Ever heard the term "I'm so hungy I could eat a horse"!

Yeh, it is strange though....

Poor horse!

Maybe the puma didnt realise that the horse was capable of giving it a pretty hard kick!
And if they like to keep out of people's way maybe they just live off whatever lives in the forests, like rabbits,foxes etc. Hence no livestock being mauled/eaten.

reply to post by Bluebelle


Yeah true. The Galloway Forest Park is huge and that's no too far away. Could've been living in there comfortably for ages.


reply to post by weedev

Ever heard the term "I'm so hungy I could eat a horse"!

Should've thought of that while righting that post

reply to post by Nammu


There have been tonnes of sightings. Guess the reason this made the headlines is because it was a "biting", cheesy.

Im in Scotland myself and quite a few have been near me.

Have a look....

www.bigcatsinbritain.org...



[edit on 22-7-2009 by XXXN3O]

Yeah me and my mate used to go camping at his uncles near Gifford. All the locals used to talk about seeing a puma roaming around in the forest area at night. I was scared sh!tless already by seeing monks wandering around covering their faces and leaving creepy shrines all over the place never mind pumas too! lol.

Looks like they can't say it's just a myth now.
Poor horsey.....Poor kitty, he must still be hungry.

I dont know why its been treated as a myth for such a long time to be honest. Its hardly in the same category as bigfoot sightings... at least puma's etc actually exist

And its pretty plausible when you consider the amount of illegal animals that people try to bring into the country to keep as pets... just some stupid people think 'ooo look at that tiny puma, isnt it cute!'.. and then it starts growing. And probably eats its owner.

Lets just hope there isnt enough out there to start breeding!

And its pretty plausible when you consider the amount of illegal animals that people try to bring into the country to keep as pets... just some stupid people think 'ooo look at that tiny puma, isnt it cute!'.. and then it starts growing. And probably eats its owner.

Lets just hope there isnt enough out there to start breeding!

I remember a guy being caught in wester hailes with an alligator in his house, as you say you never know what pets gone wild are roaming around!

[edit on 22-7-2009 by Broonie]

[edit on 22-7-2009 by Broonie]

Cant get the quote thing to work on the above post

reply to post by Nammu


Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Love them ALIEN BIG CATS...I also liked the dotty advice from Ms. Francis the Big Cats lady "If you stand still the animal will totally ignore you, they really are not dangerous to humans."
Can it really be true that, if I just hold still enough, watching a puma five feet away is as safe as watching one on TV? I vote no, I think this is just blame the victim, I can see it now, the cougar's eating my face and they call the expert for comment and she says "Well, he must have flinched..."

I mean, animals are unpredictable. We are animals, we know this.

reply to post by Broonie


Yea, there's some absolute nutjobs out there.. just think, if it hadnt been found in house there's every chance he would have turfed it out a few weeks/months down the line. And voila, you have 'myth of the giant alligator in such and such river'!


reply to post by nine-eyed-eel


She was probably getting a puma mixed up with a tyranosaurus rex

reply to post by Nammu


I feel bad for the horse and hate that it was attacked, but I'm glad there's finally PROOF of what so many people have known all along.

I'm in the states, but I've always kept up with the big cat sightings around the world. Thanks for posting this!

I just wish there could be some kind of census on the population in the UK to determine their location, numbers and ranges. I mean, researchers in the US can track pumas over long distances, wild terrain and huge ranges. Why wouldn't they just bring in someone with specialist knowledge to do it here?

I find it so strange that everyone is so against reintroducing wolves back into Scotland, saying they pose a threat to livestock. Yet it's common knowledge and evidence does exist showing that large cats do roam certain areas, and majority of people aren't even aware of them.

big cats tend to try to land on the back and make a bite on the neck, swinging under to torque the neck and break it, or using the grip to bite through. I suspect that:

1. this cat is juvenile and hungry, and underestimated the effort to bring this prey down

or

2. the cat and the horse confronted (horses defend well) and the horse got mauled backkicking at the cat when it circled

either way, a puma is not a match for a horse in a fair fight, so I suspect the puma was happened upon by the horse and they tangled.

Firstly, I live in this area and have been asking some questions of the local Camp site staff and their story does not match with the press or radio statement about staff seeing a big cat in May.

On the night of the alleged attack what was seen in the area above the campsite was 2 bright lights that hovered above a tree line. One of those lights then seemed to descend, go out of site for about ten minutes, before returning to its original place beside the other. Both lights then faded out.

I agree with a previous poster, that its an area that is land surrounded on all sides by main roads. There are wooded areas and lots of fields with livestock including sheep and cows.

The Conspiracy blood in my veins is asking why the local police were so quick to come to a conclusion?, why my own local vet personally stated to me that he had no knowledge of any other vet in the area being involved (As atated by local radio) and more importantly, why no farmers in the area had any knowledge of the horse attack untill the local radio and paper began publishing 3 days later. Its not a large area and the farm houses are very close together.

I will continue to dig at this till the itch subsides.

respects



[edit on 24-7-2009 by captiva]

Originally posted by Nammu
The only thing that puzzles me about this story, is why would the cat go for large mobile prey, like a horse, when there's plenty of sheep in the area? Surely they'd be an easier catch? I can't see any reports of livestock mauling anywhere else in the area.

Well maybe it's because sheep flock the way they do and they watch out for each other, and they can move when they need to. A cat fixates on movement so suddenly loads of sheep running everywhere can overwhelm the cat with targets - and an inexperienced or unfocussed cat has wasted energy and gone hungry.

Now a horse can be quite happy on it's own just chilling in a world of his own, maybe hungry cat see's this guy as a better target, and then probably got kicked in the face for the effort!

Silly cat, everyone knows fat tourists taste bestest.

I personally feel these big cats are the exact proof as to why a creature like Bigfoot could exist for years without being discovered.

I mean its only been confirmed in the past few months that big cats are DEFINATELY on the loose in the UK. There was even a picture of a possible bear in the newspaper not long ago.

reply to post by captiva


Very intersting, captiva. Please do investigate and find out any information you can. It's very suspect if no local vet was used, or no farmers have knowledge.

Any way to trace who the owner of the horse or field is?

reply to post by Liamoville


Yhea agreed, I see no reason at all why a cat cannot live in a place say like Devon, I know Devon very well I was born here, spent a lot of time up on dartmoor - I have never seen any evidence of a big cat - But I KNOW they could live up there their whole lives and hardly leave a clue.