KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH

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THE FUTURE FOR 'BIG CATS' IN KENT

On the 11^th January 2004 THE SUNDAY MIRROR newspaper reported, LION KILLS A CYCLIST, and the story was echoed in THE PEOPLE, under the headline GIRL SAVED FROM PUMA, and also spread like wildfire across parts of the U.S.A. where the incident took place. THE MIRROR reported that, “…a Mountain Lion (Cougar, Puma) was shot after mauling a man to death and dragging a woman 100 yards with her head in its mouth. Rangers hid near the body of cyclist Mark Reynolds, 35, waited for the lion to return to its prey and then killed it.

The beast also attacked Anne Hjelle, 30, a fitness instructor. He pounced on her as she cycled with her friend, Deborah Nichols, in parkland outside Los Angeles. It sank its jaws into her head and dragged her 100 yards into a bush while Miss Nichols held on to her friend’s legs. Miss Hjelle is now in a serious condition in a LA hospital.

Describing last week’s attack, Miss Nichols said: ‘I held onto her and kept screaming and screaming. The lion just wouldn’t let go of her face.’

Other cyclists fought off the animal by throwing stones at it.”

The Puma is native to those parts of the world, but what if such an animal were to fatally attack a person in the United Kingdom, where as a species they are not recognised despite the countless sightings every year and the collated evidence which obviously states that a variety of species of exotic felid are inhabiting the wilds of Britain. Well, across the U.S. the Puma is monitored. Reports are even mocked in areas where Cougars once lived, but attacks are few and far between. Yet they still occur. In Britain the woodlands are not as vast as those in Orange County in California, or the Rocky Mountains, but they do harbour large cats, unpredictable, wild cats that authorities are aware of, yet do not speak of or officially recognise. It seems that those who should be dealing with such matters are frightened of causing an hysterical response from the public if they admit that wild felids exist in Britain, in abundance. We do not share this view. Most of Britain and its people have heard of the ‘big cat’ sightings, and most people we have spoken to believe it is a fascinating subject where the cat’s deserve protection and research should be taken further. However, there is going to come a time when tragedy may strike. Now, some of us know that there have been several bodies of dead cats found across the U.K., this has only been an issue for those who have found the corpses, usually on roads, and got rid of them, probably for analysis. In a few other cases cats, such as Lynx have been shot and the bodies burnt or buried. These cats are not disposable, and neither are humans but if a human was attacked by a cat such as a Puma and badly mauled or even killed, then there would be an outcry, hunters would take to the woods, newspapers would be full of the usual ‘beastly’ tales, and nothing positive will come out of the situation.

Of course, there is nothing positive about someone being killed by a large cat, but in the U.S. such cases are looked into and accepted, mainly because cat attacks are pretty infrequent, and they would be over here too. Residents, scare mongers etc, etc, would argue that such attacks should not occur over here because cats such as the Cougar should not be allowed to roam, however, the facts are, these cats are here, so it’s tough. What we need now is to look at the future properly and realistically, even if this truth is a little harsh on the countryside lovers and those that feel that the fox should remain the largest predator for man to contend with.

The victim of the American Cougar is often a jogger or cyclist, maybe because they appear as prey whilst flitting through woodland etc. Such instances are tragic, and rightly so, the puma was killed. However, this does not mean that such animals are immediately persecuted nationwide, in the same way as Great White sharks are, because these incidents are few and far between, but they do occur.

In the wilds of Kent, Cougar, Lynx, Black Leopard, possible Golden Cats, possible Caracal and Jungle Cats exist side by side. There have been no attacks on humans as yet, but many close encounters. However, there are many people who are out there looking for these cats, putting themselves and the animals in question at risk. This would not be the case if these animals were accepted as a species now native to the U.K. In the U.S.A., Africa, Asia, etc, large cats such as the Tiger, Lynx etc, are monitored, tracked and protected from hunters, and they are accepted now as endangered species and not shadows of a mythological status which provokes people to look for them as if they are searching for ghosts. If the U.K. had a ‘British Big Cat’, which would cover a variety of species of exotic felid, newspaper headlines would be kinder to reports, news programmes on television would paint a better picture, and people would become more accustomed to the situation, more aware, and people who live off the land, mainly farmers, would be compensated if they could prove that they had lost livestock to prowling ‘big cats’ rather than hysterically taking to the hills with guns. Cats in the U.K. must exist here for research purposes as well as part of the wildlife, and not as mythical animals bound into folklore for people shoot at.

Researching reports of exotic cats is all well and good but for KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH this has been taken further. There are authorative groups out there who, with a click of the fingers, can, to some extent, protect these exotic cats. Projects can be set up in order to tag certain individuals for monitoring purposes, so if attacks occur then maybe a cat could be destroyed/ sectioned that way. By doing this many cat species can be looked into, to determine how long they have been there, how old they are, whether they have been released from private collections, whether they are part of a healthy family, what prey they are taking more than others, their territories, and whether a specific cat is taking a farmer’s lambs, or there is more than one cat in the area of the same or different species.

If someone kills a large cat on the road in their car, they will no longer have to leave it there, or bag it up and take it home either to bury it or to make money from it. Such ‘news’ wouldn’t have to be main news, a cat killed by a vehicle would be no more news than a badger being killed and that’s what is required. Such is the abundance of exotic felids nationwide, that it is no longer of use to talk about whether they are there or not, this is mindless regurgitation and something the enthusiastic ‘cat researchers’, who have made it their hobby, should be doing, by sitting at a PC all day and filing useless reports.

Britain needs a strong, yet small team of researchers to be employed to look after the felids that are well established across the U.K. The public needs to be informed about these elusive animals, but more so, all this needs to be done with a degree of officialdom and not under some folklore blanket. Your ordinary joe-public researcher would not know how to deal with a case regarding a dead Leopard, or if someone came to them and reported that their child had been badly injured by an angry Lynx, and this is a scary thought. What is even more scary is the thought that some researchers would run off to the local newspaper or ring ITN news, just to make a name for themselves. What we need in these kind of circumstances, should they reach the press, is for calm, and for reports to be of a scientific, zoological nature, and that it should be a concern for us all if a cat is killed, and not a news story that creates hysteria.

Shooting parties, and even shooting magazines, as of the time of writing, are offering rewards for anyone who can bag a ‘big cat’ as long as it is seen on farm land worrying, or killing sheep etc. This is an awful way of bringing these animals to the news, and a terrible way to gain knowledge of these animals, and it also shows the naivety of these people who still believe that shooting such an animal is the only way to prove they exist, when as I have already stated, the research is way beyond that now.

There needs to be an official body to look into the cat situation. Whilst local researchers are doing their bit by filing reports, these will simply just mount forever all the time these animals are not accepted. The only reason they are not being accepted is due to the prospect of some kind of hysteria which we do not believe will occur anyway. It’s not as if the government are admitting to ‘alien beings’ or something so stupid, but simply the fact that populations of exotic cats are healthily living in our wilds and that they have been there centuries, and not just the last thirty or so years. Every report, piece of evidence and other related situation will then no longer be a mere part of an unresolved situation which at the time revolves around petty investigators, but it will be a simple bout of research, which, as the days go by, is sadly lacking. At the moment there are so many lunatics roaming the woodlands doing absolutely nothing although they will swear blind that they are doing something.

Marksmen are taking to the hills of Wales, Marines hide in the ravines of Exmoor, shooters prowl the moors of Bodmin, etc, etc, but why ? What are they hoping to achieve ? If one ‘big cat’ is killed, does that end the mystery ? No. However, if these animals are seriously and officially looked into, tagged, monitored, and understood, then if an attack occurs, it can be solved as such. If sheep are loss frequently, the matter will be resolved. If a cat is killed on the roads, it can be discussed, etc, etc. This may of course take the shine off the situation for the so-called researcher who searches for their personal treasure, but this pedestrian outlook only hinders research, for this research needs to be far bigger than any petty researcher, it needs to involve a governing body that no longer needs to secretly remove a splattered ‘big cat’ from a motorway in a white van, for it can instead turn around and say, “…one of Britain’s ‘big cats’ has been killed, please be careful for this is a tragic accident”.

If someone is unfortunately attacked by a Cougar, something can be done about it because if the individual felid has been tagged, it can be dealt with. There will be no need for hysterical posse’s of people scouring the countryside. Unfortunately, at the moment many people believe there is some kind of top-secret conspiracy regarding the exotic cat situation, we believe it has more to do with something that is out of hand and the response that authorities fear from the public should the so-called ‘alarming’ truth be revealed. All matters ‘big cat’ related, whether they are escapees from zoo’s or private collections, evidence, bodies, injured cats, etc, etc could be dealt with easily and efficiently. This WILL happen simply because of the insistence of the situation.

Large cats such as the Puma, and the Leopard (the Leopard has almost fictionally become known as a man-eater in parts of Africa, and tales of lore speak of man-killing cats, but this has been blown out of proportion and such attack are rare.) have become habituated to the presence of vehicles and people around them. This of course does not make them any less dangerous, but guidelines should be provided to people in the community, by way of woodland notice board’s etc, regarding possible encounters with cats, because people do not know what signs to look for when they encounter such an animal.

Man is the most likely cause of an aggressive cat, especially if one is shot. People who encounter an aggressive felid should never panic and flee, sudden movements may cause the cat to also panic and rush at you, so it is advised to keep your eye on the animal and back off slowly. How you conduct yourself in such encounters is vitally important to the outcome. At times it has been advised by some researchers to make a loud noise at the animal, to wave your arms and to stand as big as possible, but this rule is not strictly true, it depends entirely on the animal which may of course attack your sudden movements. Such animals always need an escape route as well, so cornering such an animal in an old building is not advised.

People constantly contact KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH in order to ‘see’ cats as if we have some magic answer. We often travel to locations over several years, and put many hours into research not just to hopefully see a cat, but to monitor the entire area to see whether it can hold a cat, this is not just about the cat, but also the area it inhabits and the wildlife it shares its habitat with. It certainly isn’t about attempting to film these cats, rarely do we now take cameras with us, we know where the territories are, but more importantly we often monitor areas to see if the animals in question are still healthy, and footage taken is a bonus for research purposes.

Of course, we cannot stop the avid enthusiast, however dangerous they may be, patrolling through the muddy woodlands. These sort of people bombard us with questions as to what signs to look for, how to film a cat, although in most cases these cats are very aware of approaching people, and any chance of filming one if very remote and often by pure chance if you do not know an area well enough and where the cat is moving.

Those who seek a so-called ‘unofficial’ animal in Britain’s woodlands are putting themselves at a small risk. Flushing an animal from hiding is not a good idea at all, and this can happen as many people tend to stalk the woodlands, approaching areas on foot where they are better of staking one area out, but the trouble is with such enthusiasts is that they have no patience, they need to be on the move, going from one area to another. However, it is unlikely that anyone can get that close to a large cat, but take into account the wind direction at all times, and try to approach from the downwind side. Being quiet is an obvious approach, but ‘quiet’ to a human is very different to the ‘quiet’ of a cat. People tend to ‘creep’ through the woods, breaking twigs, cracking dry leaves, flashing away with their camera, and truly believe they are being quiet. In fact, ideal research can be done more adequately from a vehicle. A great number of cat sightings occur on roads, but also, in the wilds of Africa and the likes much research is done from vehicles, where researchers can stop for a while and assess a situation, checking the surrounding areas. If you are able to see a cat, you can determine what mood it is in if you are close enough, and you always remain safe. If there is an area where there are young or a kill, this can be a hostile time, so again, being in a vehicle is far safer. Unfortunately, the avid researcher is not about ‘research’, it’s more of a case of getting together with a few friends and trudging through the woods once a sighting has been made. Nice! (And as usual they see nothing).

Tracking an animal such as a Leopard is extremely dangerous. As we have already stated, attacks on humans in the U.K. are pretty much non-existent. However, the picture changes once a person goes looking for an animal that may have young or could be protecting a kill. These animals use camouflage perfectly, but will give no warning before a charge. People that get close to such an animal will hear a deep cough or hiss as a warning. In some cases the cat may run off and then crouch, facing you, be alert to this. Signs to look for are as follows:

Ø Staring fixedly.

Ø The baring of teeth and snarling.

Ø Crouched head and the flattening of the ears.

Ø Ears held forwards and the head held up.

Ø Head lowered as the animal stands side-on.

Ø A Leopard may approach several times as a warning to you to back off.

Ø When in a vehicle that is being charged by a Leopard, always back off a considerable distance which the animal feels comfortable with.

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

Those who tend to scour the countryside looking for ‘big cats’ tend to believe that signs are extremely easy to find, but this is not the case, especially when people do not know what to look for. Beforehand, it is best to eliminate the evidence left by native species such as deer, foxes, dogs, badgers etc, which can be scratch marks, droppings, paw-prints etc. Some droppings are very common in woodlands, and you will be familiar with them no doubt, i.e. rabbits etc, but in areas where deer are rarely sighted, there are going to be signs of animals you are not familiar with, so instead of simply looking for ‘big cat’ signs, try at first to eliminate signs of other animals. Droppings from cows (cowpat) and horses are easily identifiable, as are those of dogs, but badgers, deer, foxes, even otters are signs you may stumble across and not recognize.

Deer droppings are cylindrical with a pointed end, fox droppings are more slender than those of a dog with twisted, tapering ends and the droppings of a badger are similar but they tend to leave them in a shallow pit but do not cover them over. Otter droppings are smaller, known as spraints, they smell fishy and are black in colour with a sticky texture, whereas sheep and goat droppings can look like large rabbit droppings. Anything smaller than a fox is unlikely to be of a large cat, but if anything interests you then take a sample, by wearing gloves and using tweezers, and put your sample in a small bag.

Prints: Badger Deer Fox (Neil Arnold) Tracks (paw-prints) seem to fascinate cat researchers most and yet these cause the most debate. On many pathways prints are often unclear, they may be smudged, covered by other tracks such as dogs, humans, foxes etc, and the rear lobes are often never clear as a cat walks on its toes. The claw-mark controversy is a common argument too but the only other animal that has prints to be confused with a large cat is the dog. However, we have received numerous photographs of tracks left by a hopping rabbit that witnesses believed to be of a large cat.

Rabbit print in snow (Neil Arnold) This is achieved when the rabbit sits on its back legs leaving a rounded impression with indentations at the front, but even so, this is nothing like a ‘big cat’, but some witnesses believe the indentation left behind, especially in snow, looks like a partially thawed ‘big cat’ print.

The track guide herein should provide any enthusiast with a decent idea as to what other animals are strolling along the muddy pathways.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

For the last thirty or so years many people have believed that exotic felids have been escaping from zoo parks in abundance, and the escapees hushed up. All zoo parks in Britain have a relatively small number of cats, and the more rare species, i.e. Pallas Cats etc, are kept in small numbers. Cats have escaped from zoo parks in Kent, but these matters have been dealt with. One popular conspiracy theory is that certain zoo parks are obtaining cats and letting them go into the countryside because the owners of the zoo believe that these animals are safer in Britain than in their countries of origin. This may have happened a few times, but we’ll never know. Of course, many people are still able to obtain exotic species illegally, hence the fact that so many exotic, colourful animals continue to turn up over the countryside, from Snapping Turtles, to large snakes and crocodiles. Anyone able to release felids into the countryside will simply be adding to the local legend as such.

Too many researchers love the conspiracy theories that suggest the government are involved in secret breeding programmes regarding cat species in the UK. Others look to the sinister side when alleged dead cats are found and discreetly moved to secret locations, but this is more to do with the fact that the discovery of a dead Leopard by the road side is quite an issue and someone has to deal with it whether it’s the police, the RSPCA or some ‘unknown’ authority formed to deal with such matters, albeit an authority none of us know about.

It seems so bizarre to create such conspiracies in a situation that quite simply does not need such covert operation. Are cats being released in the wilds to be hunted for money ? Let’s face it, hunting a lynx for some is by far more difficult game that a frightened fox. And with the commotion within the fox-hunting community at an equilibrium, would some ‘hunters’ look for a bigger challenge ?

The most ridiculous suggestion is that these animals are phantoms, echoing back to the folklore of a phenomenon known as the Black Dog, which were once abundant in the paranormal world, and considered omens of misfortune, mongers of death, appearing as frothing, fiery-eyed hounds, which some have attempted to connect to sightings of ‘big cats’, but these cats have no relation whatsoever to the world of the unexplained. They are not ghosts, but simply elusive forms that drift through the darkness, eyes reflective in torch and headlights, but nothing more.

KENT’S OTHER MYSTERY ANIMALS

Sevenoaks Jackel 1905: photo courtesy of ANIMALS & MEN, originally photographed by Essenhigh Corke & Co. On the 1^st March 1905 a strange animal which was blamed for several attacks on livestock in Sevenoaks was shot and killed by an organised party of some seventy beaters. A Mr. Willis killed the animal near ‘The Woodman’ on the Right Hon. Earl Amherst’s Estate, and the creature was identified as a Jackal, around five years of age.

On the Wednesday, the 1^st, some fifty guns sought the predator, which was eventually stuffed by a naturalist, a Mr. Hutchinson, of Derby and is now allegedly in the possession of a Mr. Pocock of Cold Harbour, in Montreal, the Head Keeper of the Right Hon. Earl Amherst’s Estate.

Reports like this are reasonably frequent which prove that it’s not only small insects and reptiles which end up on these shores.

In his book Mystery Cats Of The World, Karl P.N. Shuker wrote about a tan/black-coloured animal shot at in the Ashdown Forest area of Sussex in 1970. The British Museum at the time analysed hair samples left by the creature and identified that the animal on the loose was in fact a spotted hyena. The animal was never captured. Fortean Times magazine wrote of the incident, quoting from The Times, 23^rd July 1971.

“…police were hunting a wild animal in the Ashdown Forest area of Sussex, which attacked a dog belonging to a farmer on the forest’s edge. The report continues: People who have seen the animal in the forest, including two policemen, describe it as ‘like a Puma’, black and tan coloured with streaks of yellow, and pointed ears!!

Fortean Times wrote to the farmer, Mr. Alistair Whitley, of Outback Farm, Mutley, on the south side of the forest, whose eye opening reply came six months later. The farmer claimed the animal prowled the farm from Spring to Autumn of 1971. His letter stated:

“Our first signs were over-large ‘dog’ paw-prints on the woodland paths, and portions of half-eaten wild rabbits in the cattle drinking troughs in the fields. Our first clear sighting was when it seized our little pet dog (a Tibetan spaniel, about 10lbs in weight) at a distance of about twelve feet. I managed o throw a shovel and hit it causing it to drop the dog and make off. Subsequent and many sightings could be condensed thus; very heavy strong dog with fierce eyes and round pricked ears, yellowish in colour and splotched with darker marks. It spent much time lying in whatever field our sheep flock was in, which frightened us, but in fact it never attacked them. (Mind you, it was not with us at lambing – March – or it might have been a different story. It didn’t arrive until early May). It appeared to ‘camouflage’ itself with the sheep to catch rabbits. It urinated in all the water troughs, and was excited by our little dogs – (we kept them shut in the garden after it came into the farmyard to catch one).

We were very lucky in being helped by Dr. John Lisgoe, a marine biologist who lived locally, and a Professor at Sussex University who helped us collect paw-prints both in plaster casts and digging up the actual earth, which he took to the Curator of the British Natural History Museum who positively identified the ‘beast’ as an African Spotted Hyena, from hairs and prints. We were warned that it was very formidable as an animal which couldn’t be doubted if you’d met it as closely as we had. I had a good shot at it in late October as it stood by the wood-side, but whether I killed it or just terrified it away I cannot say. It crawled into the dense undergrowth and we didn’t dare follow it in case it was wounded.

Neither our family nor neighbours have seen or heard it since.’

During the late ‘90s KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH received a report from a highly reliable witness regarding an unusual sighting pertaining to a creature that was described as fox-like, but with stilted legs, a black mane on its back and a long snout. The witness said the animal was nosing around in the gutter of a remote country lane, stared into the headlights and was gone in a flash. The man who saw the animal was startled as he thought it resembled a wolf! Further research pointed at a Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), a relation to the fox, but an animal native to Central and Eastern America which can reach over four-feet in length and stand eighteen inches at the shoulder. Could such an animal have been released from a private collection ? It hasn’t been sighted again.

One of those most documented ‘strange animals’ in Kent comes from April 16^th, 1954 and involved a Police Constable S. Bishop who came face to face with a ‘walking fir-cone’ in Dumpton Park, Ramsgate. He described the animal as, “…being covered in quills, having a long snout, a short tail, with large claws”, and that it was, “…Alsatian-dog size”.

Again, the animal was never reported again, it was most likely to have been a porcupine, whilst other researchers suggested a pangolin or a variety of armadillo!

Wild Boar are now very common on the marshlands of Kent, some spilled into the woodlands after the great storm of ’87 destroyed pens. Although the boar have been filmed and monitored they are still poorly accepted in the countryside and also feared, as they are known to devour crops and become aggressive when approached, however, any animal has a right to protect its young from intruders.

Wallabies have established themselves in parts of Ashford and Canterbury, again, these healthy colonies are offspring of those that have escaped from captivity.

Members of the public can get hold of a variety of animals illegally which means anything can turn up on the doorsteps or river banks, from alligators on the banks of the River Stour, as in the mid 1970s, to caiman crocodiles on housing estates. These may not exist in abundance and are often one-off cases of stupid, careless owners, but the woodlands of Kent could certainly harbour a variety of animals not native.

One ‘popular’ belief that has been looked into, yet one which once again puts the cat situation a step backward into a more folkloric realm, is the possible connections between ‘mystery cats’ and the phenomenon known as The Black Dog. Across the world, and for centuries, many people have had encounters, mainly on lonely roads, at night, with ‘hellhounds’, these being, fiery-eyed, panting, ghostly, mainly black dogs, large dogs that exhibit menace, not ordinary Labradors on country roads or vicious strays. The Black Dog phenomena has given birth to such legends with names such as Black Shuck, Padfoot, Striker and the ‘beast’ of Bungay, and although many weird close encounters with these hounds which seem to disappear into thin air do suggest meeting with ‘dogs’, some researchers have attempted to put some reports into the ‘big cat’ territory, claiming that some people have in fact had encounters with ‘big cats’ possibly Black Leopards, rather than phantom dogs. This opinion is valid, when you consider some historical reports of what are meant to be ‘phantom dogs’, as witnesses in literature have reported panting animals, gracile forms that leap great distances, animals with ‘glowing’ eyes rather than fiery, and muscular, long-bodied animals that slink into hedgerows. It seems obvious that on a number of occasions the ‘cats’ have been mixed up with the ‘ghosts’, because it is clear, through folkloric tradition that the ‘black dog’ is indeed an omen of misfortune, a harbinger of doom, and in reality we do not need to confuse a very real ‘cat’ situation with an aspect of lore, even if there are connections.

On the Pilgrim’s Way that runs through Kent there have been a handful of sightings of a large, whitish hound which is said to haunt the Canterbury to London pathway. Such a haunting may well have connections to such an ancient pathway, or simply be a misidentification of a vary large, greyish-coloured cat, however, there is a vague legend near Blue Bell Hill of another ‘white’ dog, known as Garm, said to prowl areas from Tunbury to Ayelsford, although it has also been reported accompanied on occasion by a woman, so that is another matter.

Rural areas of from Maidstone to Ashford boast ‘black dog’ legends, but if such a creature was seen during the 1800s, would it have been reported as a Black Leopard in the fog if the locals were completely unaware of such an animal at the time ? Something dark-coloured, in the distance, over five-feet long, moving slowly through a field, seen by an unnerved witness from over one-hundred yards away. What did they really see ?

On a rather peculiar note, it seems that many of the ‘black dog’ sightings of yesteryear have died down, seemingly replaced by the ‘big cat’ reports. Do the phantom dogs still haunt the winding lanes ? Were they ever there in the first place ? Maybe such ghostly animals did exist, in some ethereal realm, but the ‘cat’ flaps of the last thirty years may have drowned them out.

GENERAL ‘BIG CAT’ INFORMATION

Recently KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH founder Neil Arnold was interviewed by Alison Griggs BSc (Hons) Media Technology (Production) regarding her study of exotic felids for a project called ‘BEAST – AN ALIEN INVADER’. The project would take on the form of a mock radio documentary. Some of the questions asked have been used here to help ‘big cat’ enthusiasts, sceptics, and the general public understand a little more about the situation across the UK.

1. WHEN DID YOU FIRST BECOME INTERESTED IN ‘ALIEN BIG CATS’ ? (the term ‘alien’ is often used to describe something non-native.)

Answer: Like most researchers, from a young age the mystery of the countryside has intrigued us all. I personally became involved after having a general interest in local folklore from the age of around ten years-old, reading books etc. From there I heard about one or two vague sightings of large cats which were obviously not feral cats or over-fed moggies and it sprang from there.

2. WHEN WERE THE FIRST SIGHTINGS OF ‘BIG CATS’ IN KENT?

Answer: The U.K. has been home to exotic cats for centuries, and I’m not sure we’ll ever find a rough date to pinpoint regarding their origin. Every county has reports dating back several hundreds of years. In Kent the more historical reports become vague or brief but they do exist.

3. ARE THE ANIMAL’S LIVING IN GROUPS OR AS SOLITARY ANIMALS ?

Answer: The Lion and the Cheetah (which do not roam Britain despite some press stories) are pretty much social animals with the majority of other cats being solitary. Cats seen together may be a mating pair or a mother with young, but the young move off on their own after a period of time.

4. WHAT EVIDENCE SO FAR HAS BEEN GATHERED TO PROVE THEIR EXISTENCE?

Answer: Evidence is in abundance, corpses have turned up on roads, the eye-witness reports are in their thousands each year, paw-prints have been cast on many occasions and the attacks on livestock are frequent and yet there is still bizarre scepticism with authorities denying any evidence whatsoever of these animals.

5. HOW MANY SIGHTINGS OF ‘BIG CATS’ ARE REPORTED A YEAR/MONTH IN KENT AND THE U.K.?

Answer: If researchers across the U.K. did their jobs properly then there should be thousands of reports a year of exotic cats. Reports a month vary for us, because now we don’t really need the eye-witness reports to rely on to know the where-abouts of an individual cat, we can estimate a rough location based on methodical research in the past. Each year we receive over 250 sightings, and this is after we have siphoned out the vague reports and those to be taken with a pinch of salt. Other research groups dedicated to their work also receive similar numbers. If one county only throws up fifteen to twenty sightings a year it seems clear that the researchers are not doing their job because every county is inhabited by exotic cats.

6. HOW COMMONLY ARE OTHER ANIMALS, THEIR TRACKS, OR EVEN KILLS, MISTAKEN FOR BEING A ‘BIG CAT’ ?

Answer: Tracks are not that exciting to us, it is rare to be able to follow a set of prints for a great distance, as already mentioned on this website. Tracks never convince hardened sceptics simply because they haven’t a clue about tracks left by animals anyway. Badgers, foxes, dogs, domestic cats etc all use pathways etc, but a ‘big cat’ track, if clear enough should be pretty easy to spot. Kills are relatively easy to spot, no animal native to Britain drags a sheep carcass into a tree like a large cat can, and no animal native to Britain eats a goat, sheep or whatever prey like a ‘big cat’. Sometimes witnesses get excited if they discover a rotten sheep carcass, or a deer carcass near a road but these could be deaths attributed to natural causes or road kills, and then the carcass is scavenged and gradually rots.

We do not receive many reports of mistaken identity when it comes to cat sightings. If people are seeing Black Labradors in the distance, or a large domestic cat in the woods, we usually speak about those possibilities first, and never file the report if there are inconsistencies, however, there is still a big difference between a Black Leopard in the distance and a big dog, and although some witnesses will naturally be confused, which is understandable, any reports of this nature are ignored.

7. WHERE IN THE COUNTRY ARE THESE ANIMALS MOST COMMONLY SEEN?

Answer: Whilst some areas of the UK may be more populated by exotic cats than others, every county has one cat or more. Areas such as Surrey, Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and many areas of Scotland are often mentioned in the press so in turn will seem to get more coverage, however, this does not necessarily mean there are more cats in those areas than say Suffolk or Essex. The moors of Dartmoor, Bodmin and Exmoor have been advertised as the prowling ground of large cats for many years, which makes it seem as though it is easy to see a cat there, but I wouldn’t say that one area has more sightings than another, it all depends on how much publicity sightings are given in the local press.

8. DO ‘BIG CAT’ SIGHTINGS INCREASE OR DECREASE DEPENDING ON THE TIME OF YEAR?

Answer: No. Although foliage is thinned out during Winter months and prey may be harder to find, we find that reports are consistent throughout the year, even when vegetation is very thick. Many reports emerge when the corn fields are cut, but there is not one particular season that produces more sightings than others.

9. DO YOU HAVE A ROUGH IDEA OF THE SIZE OF THE ‘BIG CAT’ POPULATION IN THIS COUNTY?

Answer: There are at least eight Black Leopards, at least six Pumas and any figures of smaller cats would be just a rough guess.

10. DURING MY RESEARCH I HAVE READ ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF CROSS-BREEDING BETWEEN EXOTIC CATS AND DOMESTIC CATS. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THIS?

Answer: The Jungle Cat will breed with the domestic cat. There is no evidence locally to suggest any other hybrids.

11. WHAT EFFECT, IF ANY, COULD AN INCREASING ‘BIG CAT’ POPULATION HAVE ON INDIGENOUS WILDLIFE?

Answer: At the moment, no effect. Rabbits exist in their millions and they seem to be the main prey locally, as well as pheasants. Of course, attacks on livestock do cause a problem for the land owners. An explosion in the cat population will cause problems to some extent.

12. WHY HAS THE GOVERNMENT BEEN RETICENT ABOUT THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATING THESE SIGHTINGS FURTHER?

Answer: I believe that sightings have been investigated thoroughly by some authorities, but why this has been done so secretly I do not know. Maybe they fear hysteria but I strongly believe that no hysteria will take place if these cats become serious news and accepted as a U.K. species. Someone out there is monitoring livestock attacks, some sightings and also the harder evidence such as bodies.

13. IN THE PAST THERE HAVE BEEN HOAXES, HAS ANYONE EVER ATTEMPTED TO PULL A HOAX ON YOU ? HAVE YOU UNEARTHED ANY HOAXES?

Answer: Unfortunately pranksters, idiots and jokers exist the world over and such cases are always likely to occur. The press constantly fall for such pranks, especially in the photographic footage scenario and yet they still continue to print photo’s that clearly show a cardboard cut-out, or large domestic cat etc, etc. These photo’s then give the situation a bad name, when they should simply be discarded. There will always be people phoning up to say they have seen something they haven’t or claiming that they have exclusive footage, but who really cares ? It’s easy to tell in some cases whether it is a hoax, especially regarding paw-prints, photo’s of cats etc.

14. HOW DO YOU VIEW THE MEDIA’S PORTRAYAL OF ‘ALIEN BIG CATS’?

Answer: Pretty poor, because they are always willing to believe anything for a story and write any old drivel to get a headline. Very rarely are they ever interested in compiling in-depth scientific articles when they can write something pretty short about the local ‘beast’. They aren’t really interested in the welfare of the animals, and I’m sure they would love it if someone shot a ‘big cat’ and took it to their offices. It’s tragic. Myths regarding these animals are born from the poor press coverage also.

15. HAS THE MEDIA COVERAGE IN THE PAST MADE PEOPLE MORE CAUTIOUS ABOUT COMING FORWARD AND REPORTING SIGHTINGS OR MORE WILLING TO?

Answer: Many people are risking a lot if they actually report sightings to the press because they are often misquoted and made to look a fool just so the newspaper can get another story in the pages. If a researcher puts their own contact details in an article though, then they will receive many reports because witnesses on most occasions prefer to speak to the right people instead of some reporters. However, there are always witnesses in search of five minutes of fame who just want to get their faces in the paper whether the details are right or not.

16. DO YOU THINK THAT PART OF THE ATTRACTION OF THIS AREA IS THAT THE GENERAL PUBLIC HAVE A NEED FOR ‘MONSTERS’, A NEED FOR THERE TO BE SOMETHING LIVING OUT THERE IN THE WILDERNESS, WAITING TO GET US?

Answer: I think people love a mystery and they love to read about the sightings in the newspapers, they become excited knowing that there is a possibility of sharing their back yards with a large, and very wild animal. Across the world there is this need for that adventure, that explorer in us all which is why it is so strange for there still to be so many sceptics when you consider we are only dealing with a normal animal. However, the press in turn alter these creatures into mystical entities, like ghosts, which in turn adds the mystery but doesn’t do any favours to serious study.

17. DO YOU PLAN ON WRITING A BOOK ABOUT THE KENT ‘BIG CATS’?

Answer: I have self-published several volumes of books which include coverage of the Kent exotic cat situation, however, filling a book with locations of sightings is not a good idea. The books that already exist on the ‘big cat’ situation, from Di Francis’ ‘Cat Country’ and ‘The Beast Of Exmoor’ to Karl Shuker’s ‘Mystery Cats Of The World’ already do a good job of outlining the situation. Everyone wants to get a piece of the action now, with some authors claiming these cats are in fact ghosts!! There is a market for such a book, and I’m sure a few will come along, but none will be exhaustive.

CHECKLIST OF SPECIES (based upon taxonomic proposals of Hemmer and Honacki)

European Wild Cat Sand Cat

Felis silvestris silvestris Felis margrita maragarita

Felis silvestris caucasia Felis margarita airensis

Felis silvestris euxina Felis margarita meinertzhageni

Felis silvestris grampia Felis margarita thinobius

Felis silvestris molisana Felis margarita scheffeli

Felis silvestris morea

Felis silvestris tartesia

African Wild Cat Jungle Cat

Felis lybica lybica Felis chaus chaus

Felis lybica brockmani Felis chaus affinis

Felis lybica cafra Felis chaus fulvidina

Felis lybica caudata Felis chaus furax

Felis lybica foxi Felis chaus kelaarti

Felis lybica griselda Felis chaus kutas

Felis lybica iraki Felis chaus nilotica

Felis lybica issikulensis Felis chaus oxiana

Felis lybica koslowi Felis chaus prateri

Felis lybica matschiei

Felis lybica murgabensis Black Footed Cat

Felis lybica nesterovi Felis nigripes nigripes

Felis lybica ocreata Felis nigripes thomasi

Felis lybica ornata

Felis lybica pyrrhus Chinese Desert Cat

Felis lybica rubida Felis bieti

Felis lybica sarda

Felis lybica tristami

Felis lybica chutuchta Serval

Felis lybica vellerosa

Felis serval serval

Pallas’s Cat Felis serval beirae

Felis manul manul Felis serval brachyura

Felis manul ferruginea Felis serval constantina

Felis manul nigripecta Felis serval hamiltoni

Felis serval hindeio

Felis serval ingridi

Felis serval kempi

Felis serval kivuensis

Felis serval lipostica

Felis serval lonnbergi

Felis serval mababiensis

Felis serval robertsi

Felis serval togoensis

Rusty Spotted Cat Leopard Cat

Felis rubiginosa rubiginosa Felis bengalensis bengalensis

Felis rubiginosa phillipsi Felis bengalensis borneoensis

Felis bengalensis chinensis

Fishing Cat Felis bengalensis euptailura

Felis viverrina Felis bengalensis horsfieldi

Felis bengalensis manchurica

Felis bengalensis trevelyani

Iriomote Cat Felis bengalensis javaensis

Felis iriomotensis Felis bengalensis minutus

Felis bengalensis sumatranus

Flat-Headed Cat Jaguarundi

Felis planiceps planiceps Felis yagouaroundi yagouaroundi

Felis yagouaroundi ameghinoi

African Golden Cat Felis yagouaroundi cacomitli

Felis aurata aurata Felis yagouaroundi eyra

Felis aurata celidogaster Felis yagouaroundi fossata

Felis aurata cottoni Felis yagouaroundi melantho

Felis yagouaroundi panamensis

Asian Golden Cat Felis yagouaroundi tolteca

Felis temmincki temmincki

Felis temmincki dominicanorum Ocelot

Felis temmincki tristis Felis pardalis pardalis

Felis pardalis aequatorialis

Bay Cat Felis pardalis albescens

Felis badia Felis pardalis maripensis

Felis pardalis mearnsi

Margay Felis pardalis mitis

Felis wiedii wiedii Felis pardalis nelsoni

Felis wiedii amazonica Felis pardalis psuedopardalis

Felis wiedii boliviae Felis pardalis pusea

Felis wiedii cooperi Felis pardalis sonoriensis

Felis wiedii glaucula Felis pardalis steinbachi

Felis wiedii nicaraguae

Felis wiedii oaxacensis Little Spotted Cat/Oncilla

Felis wiedii pirrensis Felis tigrina tigrina

Felis wiedii salvinia Felis tigrina guttula

Felis wiedii yucatanica Felis tigrina pardinoides

Geoffroy’s Cat Kodkod

Felis geoffroyi geoffroyi Felis guigna guigna

Felis geoffroyi euxantha Felis guigna tigrillo

Felis geoffroyi leucobapta

Felis geoffroyi paraguayae Pampas Cat

Felis geoffroyi salinarum Felis colocolo colocolo

Felis colocolo braccata

Andean Mountain Cat Felis colocolo budini

Felis jacobita Felis colocolo crespoi

Felis colocolo garleppi

Puma Felis colocolo pajeros

Felis concolor concolor Felis colocolo thomasi

Felis concolor acrocodia

Felis concolor anthonyi

Felis concolor araucana Caracal

Felis concolor azteca Lynx caracal caracal

Felis concolor bangsi Lynx caracal algira

Felis concolor borbensis Lynx caracal damarensis

Felis concolor browni Lynx caracal limpopoensis

Felis concolor cabrerae Lynx caracal lucani

Felis concolor californica Lynx caracal michaelis

Felis concolor capricornensis Lynx caracal nubicus

Felis concolor coryi Lynx caracal poecilictis

Felis concolor costaricensis Lynx caracal schmitzi

Felis concolor cougar

Felis concolor greeni Eurasian Lynx

Felis concolor hippolestes Lynx lynx lynx

Felis concolor hudsoni Lynx lynx dinniki

Felis concolor improcera Lynx lynx kozlowi

Felis concolor incarum Lynx lynx isabellina

Felis concolor kaibabensis Lynx lynx sardiniae

Felis concolor mayensis Lynx lynx stroganovi

Felis concolor missoulensis Lynx lynx subsolanus

Felis concolor oregonensis Lynx lynx wrangelli

Felis concolor osgoodi

Felis concolor pearsoni North American Lynx

Felis concolor felis Lynx canadensis

Felis concolor schorgeri

Felis concolor stanleyana

Felis concolor vancouverensis Spanish Lynx

Felis concolor olympus Lynx pardinus

Felis concolor soderstromi

Bobcat Marbled Cat

Lynx rufus rufus Pardofelis marmorata marmorata

Lynx rufus baileyi Pardofelis marmorata charltoni

Lynx rufus californicus

Lynx rufus escuinapae Clouded Leopard

Lynx rufus fasciatus Neofelis nebulosa nebulosa

Lynx rufus floridianus Neofelis nebulosa brachyurus

Lynx rufus gigas Neofelis nebulosa diardii

Lynx rufus pallescens Neofelis nebulosa macrosceloides

Lynx rufus peninsularis

Lynx rufus superiorensis Snow Leopard

Lynx rufus texensis Panthera uncia uncia

Lynx rufus uinta

Leopard Tiger

Panthera pardus pardus Panthera tigris tigris

Panthera pardus ciscaucasia Panthera tigris altaica

Panthera pardus delacouri Panthera tigris amoyensis

Panthera pardus fusca Panthera tigris corbetti

Panthera pardus japonensis Panthera tigris sondaica

Panthera pardus jarvisi Panthera tigris sumatrae

Panthera pardus felis Panthera tigris virgata

Panthera pardus melanotica Panthera tigris balica

Panthera pardus nimr Panthera tigris lecoqui

Panthera pardus orientalis

Panthera pardus panthera Lion

Panthera pardus pernigra Panthera leo leo

Panthera pardus saxicolor Panthera leo azandica

Panthera pardus sindica Panthera leo bleyenberghi

Panthera pardus tulliana Panthera leo hollisteri

Panthera pardus adersi Panthera leo massaicus

Panthera pardus antinorri Panthera leo melanochaita

Panthera pardus ehui Panthera leo persica

Panthera pardus dathei Panthera leo roosevelti

Panthera pardus ituriensis Panthera leo senegalensis

Panthera pardus kotiva Panthera leo somaliensis

Panthera pardus melas Panthera leo verneyi

Panthera pardus millardi Panthera leo goojeratensis

Panthera pardus nanopardus Panthera leo krugeri

Panthera pardus shortridgei

Panthera pardus suahelica Cheetah (Undetermined)

Acinonyx jubatus jubatus

Jaguar Acinonyx jubatus hecki

Panthera onca onca Acinonyx jubatus ngorongorensis

Panthera onca arizonensis Acinonyx jubatus raineyi

Panthera onca centralis Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii

Panthera onca goldmani Acinonyx jubatus venticus

Panthera onca hernandesii

Panthera onca palustris

Panthera onca peruvianus

Panthera onca veracrucis

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