Large felines have had a place in British folklore for decades, even centuries. Here we look at some of the most recent sighting that have been caught on camera.
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00:00 Cats! They're cute, they're cuddly, they're nature's apex janitor, killing up to an estimated
00:10 275 million prey a year in the UK.
00:16 But that's the domestic cat, and as much as we'd like to speak about these little fluffballs,
00:23 that's not what we're looking for today.
00:26 No, today here at Shots Television Towers we're looking at larger kitties, big cats.
00:33 And no, we're not going into the wilds of some foreign jungle for them either.
00:37 No folks, we're looking for them right here in Old Blighty, and pondering that age-old
00:41 question, do big cats exist in the UK?
00:49 First up, we're in Cumbria, where a local man believed he saw a big cat roaming the
00:54 countryside in January 2024.
00:58 Basically, back in late 2019, me and my friend and his young lad were about a mile from here,
01:08 and we discovered a spore that was quite obviously not from a dog, it was asymmetrical, the exact
01:15 shaping of the toes was very much like a lynx, it was lynx-sized.
01:18 You can't say it was a lynx because it's only a spore, but it's definitely something lynx-sized.
01:23 It doesn't appear to be canid.
01:26 I had the evidence reviewed by several specialists, zoologists, even a paleontologist actually,
01:34 and yeah, they basically all said that it's quite genuine.
01:38 It really does seem to be a feline.
01:40 Basically that.
02:06 So what can we deduce from this?
02:08 It's a dog, absolutely a dog, because it doesn't touch any of the toes, she sits in between
02:12 the first and second and third and fourth.
02:14 If it'd been an asymmetrical track, like this one would be halfway through the toe.
02:20 It's a really good way of...
02:22 And it's not conclusive, but it's just a good trick you can do.
02:25 It's a good preliminary...
02:26 And just see the scale of him.
02:45 What a beauty.
02:46 Yeah.
02:47 I've got him right here.
02:48 Oh, what a beauty.
02:49 He's bigger than I thought.
02:50 Do you know that there?
02:51 A lot bigger than I thought.
03:00 Next we have footage from the makers of a documentary titled Pantera Britannia Declassified,
03:05 which shows creatures that the filmmakers believe could be big cats in the UK.
03:15 Matt Everett, the director of the big cat documentary, said his team had been inundated
03:21 after the film's July 2023 release.
03:33 The film claims to have uncovered several groundbreaking big cat sightings.
03:39 In another video released by the filmmakers, a large dark animal is seen moving around
03:44 the edge of a field in Norwich.
03:47 The documentary makers also discovered what we claim is the clearest ever photo of a big
03:52 cat prowling the British countryside.
03:59 The picture of the large panther-like creature was discovered in the files of a zoology organisation.
04:07 It shows a large muscular black cat lying in long grass in smallhorn Staffordshire.
04:13 The photo was accompanied by a handwritten note dated March 17.
04:19 But it is unclear in which year it was taken.
04:23 Experts say if the photo is genuine, it is probably the best photo of a British big cat
04:28 that exists.
04:31 The filmmakers also claim to have new DNA evidence proving the evidence of at least
04:36 one wild big cat near a sheep kill in Gloucestershire in July 2022.
04:49 In January 2024, a woman captured what looks like a big cat on camera in the outskirts
04:55 of a Cheshire town.
04:58 The exact location isn't being shared to protect the creature from hunters.
05:03 Becky Clark spotted the mystery beast roaming while she was out for a walk.
05:08 She said "We watched it for about 20 seconds on Zoom before I realised I hadn't pressed
05:14 record."
05:15 There has been so much disruption in our area with thousands of houses going up over the
05:20 last five to six years and now motorway works cutting through green space.
05:25 It was only in the last few years I was lucky enough to see the deer and now the cat.
05:30 I suspect their areas have been disrupted so much we had to move.
05:35 We're hopeful to see it again.
05:43 This is the moment a family spotted a panther-like creature prowling over a hill near a holiday
05:49 park.
05:51 Anthony Dickinson was driving back to his holiday cottage and wanted to capture the
05:55 picturesque journey.
05:57 But he was shocked when he came upon a big cat moving away from them over the brow of
06:02 a hill.
06:04 Dickinson guessed the cat was as tall as his waist.
06:07 Alongside his son Jason, he searched for the creature but couldn't find it.
06:11 Speaking in 2019 he said "I couldn't believe my eyes.
06:16 Of all the sights to see in Devon, I never expected to see that kind of animal just metres
06:20 away from us."
06:21 The more I thought about it, the more I'm convinced we saw the Beast of Bodmin and especially
06:29 after hearing that other people had spotted it too.
06:35 Anthony was with his son, his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren outside Capelands Farm
06:40 when the group spotted the big cat from a distance.
06:44 The Beast of Bodmin references a giant cat said to roam Cornwall.
06:48 There is however a Beast of Exmer which is said to roam the fields of Exmer in Devon
06:54 and Somerset.
06:56 Sightings first began in the 1970s but the Beast of Exmer became famous in 1983 when
07:02 a farmer claimed to have lost 100 sheep.
07:08 April 2019, Broadwell the Cotswolds.
07:12 This is the moment a Labrador-sized feline was found prowling outside the Fox Inn.
07:21 The video was taken by the pub landlord Ed Simpson after he spotted the Beast out of
07:26 a first floor window of his pub in the village of Broadwell in the Cotswolds.
07:32 The recording came after police and the RSPCA confirmed the Hamlet in Cornwall where pets
07:38 had vanished was being stalked by a large panther-like animal.
07:43 Ed said "We were upstairs and saw something out of the window and said, 'Look at that!'"
07:50 There was this big cat that paraded across the field quite happily then it jumped over
07:54 a wall and vanished.
08:02 Going to Derbyshire in July 2023, we come to the case of Bernadette Hall who was out
08:07 walking with her husband in Stanton Moor and as they were walking they came across this
08:12 skeleton.
08:13 According to the Derbyshire Times, Bernadette thought it was initially a sheep yet later
08:19 she posted it to social media groups where rumours of a big cat started again.
08:25 One commenter believed it was firm evidence that big cats are in the Peak District.
08:30 And that touches home for Bernadette.
08:32 When she was growing up she had childhood fears of being hunted and eaten by a puma.
08:39 Commenting on the find, Rick Minter, the Big Cat Conversations podcast host and author
08:44 of Big Cats Facing Britain's Wild Predators told the Derbyshire Times that it may point
08:50 to black leopards in the area.
08:53 He said "There is always a chance of someone hoaxing and arranging animal bones up a tree
08:58 to play a prank, but a rip on these skeletal remains seem to be partly sheer, which could
09:04 be the result of a cat such as a black leopard."
09:08 He also said "The Stanton Moor area has a record of plausible sightings of these large
09:13 cats.
09:14 They are often in edge habitat where woodland meets moorland or pasture, and they can ambush
09:21 prey such as deer."
09:23 Now that all seems compelling, but let's come back to the core question of this programme.
09:31 Do big cats live in Britain?
09:35 Well according to Shot's sister outlet, NationalWorld.com, great website, the UK doesn't have a native
09:43 population of big cat-like pumas, panthers and lynxes.
09:47 Though the website reports that sightings of big animals have continued throughout the
09:53 years.
09:54 So what could these creatures be?
09:55 Well there are some theories.
09:58 Experts hold that there is no breeding population of big cats in the UK.
10:02 The evidence?
10:03 Well they'd require a massive food supply.
10:06 A few lynxes have actually been recovered by the authorities in the UK.
10:10 Those are believed to be escaped or released exotic pets after the introduction of the
10:15 Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976.
10:21 Big cats such as leopards, lions and lynxes have lived in the British Isles, but that
10:26 was during the Ice Age.
10:28 So what does the government say?
10:32 Well a new scientist's report in August 2023 looked into it, and the UK's Department of
10:38 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told them there had been no credible evidence of big
10:45 cats in the UK.
10:48 Specifically the spokesperson for them said "if we were presented with credible information
10:54 to suggest that there was a big cat living and posing a threat to public health and safety,
10:58 we would report the matter to local police and the Home Office."
11:02 So there you have it.
11:04 Officially there's no big cat population in Britain.
11:08 However, sightings do keep popping up.
11:11 So who knows?
11:12 Are they escaped exotic animals?
11:14 Mythical creatures?
11:16 Or as some fringe theories suggest, a creature left over from the Ice Age?
11:21 We'll leave that answer to you.
11:24 Thanks for watching.
11:25 If you're watching on Shots, stay tuned for more authentic UK television, curated from
11:29 the heart of British communities by journalists living in them.
11:33 If you're watching anywhere else, please like, share us around and subscribe if you haven't
11:37 done so already.
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