{"id":39729,"date":"2024-07-02T16:37:29","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/503a0992-381e-443b-964e-d97bf1602dfe"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:27:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T15:27:29","slug":"its-a-moggy-expert-weighs-in-as-another-big-cat-spotted-in-english-countryside","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/its-a-moggy-expert-weighs-in-as-another-big-cat-spotted-in-english-countryside\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a moggy!\u201d Expert weighs in as another big cat \u2018spotted\u2019 in English countryside"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does the latest video of a black cat in the UK countryside offer evidence there are big cats roaming the British Isles? James Fair investigates <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 02 July 2024 at 14:37 PM<\/p>

\n\n

A video<\/a> has been released purporting to show a non-native black cat running through a field in the semi-darkness.<\/strong><\/p>

Martin Burford, the man who took the video in an unrevealed location on the Gloucestershire-Worcestershire border a year ago, has told Worcester News that it was a \u201c panther<\/a>\u201d. He claimed there was a thriving population of these cats in the area and that this one had been attacking and killing lambs.<\/p>

Leaving aside the issue of exactly what a panther is (the term is vague and refers to one of two species), does the video actually shows a non-native cat such as a leopard<\/a> or jaguar<\/a>?<\/p>

BBC Wildlife has shown the video to Dr Luke Hunter, executive director of the Big Cats Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s foremost conservation groups \u2013\u00a0and he says it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a moggy,\u201d Hunter says. \u201cThe gait is very much a small cat\u2019s, not a leopard or another big cat\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>

Sightings of big cats<\/a> throughout the British countryside have been common over the past 30 years or so, with arguably little or no definitive evidence of their presence.<\/p>

\u201cIt amazes me that these claims persist,\u201d says Hunter. \u201cIf there were big cats in the UK countryside, it would be almost unavoidable that unequivocal evidence would emerge.\u201d<\/p>

Some strong evidence<\/a> \u2013\u00a0though arguably not conclusive beyond all doubt \u2013 did emerge in May when the DNA of a cat in the Panthera<\/em> genus was found on a swab taken from a sheep carcass in Cumbria. In 2022, a hair found on barbed wire in Gloucestershire<\/a> was identified as belonging to a leopard.<\/p>

It has long been argued that big cats first became established in the wild in the UK following the passing into law of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976<\/a>. In the 1960s and 70s it had become increasingly common for private individuals to keep large and often dangerous animals in cages and enclosures at their homes.<\/p>

The law made it illegal to keep a wide range of named species \u2013\u00a0including all big and medium-sized cats \u2013\u00a0without a proper licence. Those people who didn\u2019t or couldn\u2019t give their exotic pet to a zoo, and didn\u2019t want to have it put down, released it into the countryside, and \u2013\u00a0so it\u2019s claimed \u2013\u00a0there has been a big cat population ever since.<\/p>

Sceptics say this argument overlooks the fact that in a country that is 70 per cent farmland, there is insufficient adequate habitat in the UK or enough prey that isn\u2019t livestock.<\/p>

Nevertheless, the idea there are big cats out there is unlikely to go away any time soon \u2013\u00a0even if the latest piece of evidence, like much that has gone before it, proves nothing.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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