Another big cat, but this time on video

[Ed]

Just came across this
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5924329/Big-cat-filmed-near-military-base-in-Scotland.html

They have the video on the BBC site here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8172064.stm

Ed

 

[Prawnster]

That's some excellent footage he got there. Really good to have the railway tracks to give a sense of scale. If it is a 'Big Cat' then it is a small one but it's certainly not a domestic cat, it's way bigger than that. Cool.

 

[locum76]

i thought the footage was slightly ropey to be honest.

 

[Mirius]

I have to say that is looks like a normal moggy to me.

 

[wildman695]

its just a big pussy, no way is it 4ft or anything like it, just a trick of perspective, it moves like a domestic cat not a puma or leopard. there are plenty of authentucated reports of jungle cats being found dead. but this one is quite likely a melonistic wildcat which is in any case larger than a domestic cat.

 

[C_Claycomb]

hefty domestic moggy
Scale didn't bear out the size they said, and the way it moved at the start of the film made it look likt it was smaller and lighter than something puma size.

Never yet seen any video footage that didn't look like a moggy.

 

[SimonM]

My 9 year old has just asked why anyone would film a cat on the railway lines

When I told him they thought it was a big cat he replied..."No way!"

Enough said

Simon

 

[Prawnster]

Hmm I thought it looked very different from a domestic cat. Seemed stockier, moved different and was much bigger overall. I suppose some people see things that others don't. It was remarkable enough to make a bobby run and get his camera, sounded like he'd run a marathon!It seems there was an attack on a horse in the area that was thought to be the work of a big cat, police apparently warned people not to approach pumas. As if your first instinct when coming across a large predator is to try and pet it!

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

Another interesting report from four days ago....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8162091.stm

I've always believed the very real possibillity of a "big cat" being able to survive quite happily in the Argyll area in particular.

I'll be following this and the Ayrshire one with very close interest!

 

[Bushwhacker]

17 seconds into the video you can get a good sense of the size. The length of the head and body is as long as the tracks are wide. There's no other way of looking at it.

Standard rail gauge is 4 feet 8.5 inches or 1.435m.

I don't think a domestic moggy is ever going to get that big.

***EDIT*** I've just read the report and they said the same. Doh!

 

[gregorach]

its just a big pussy, no way is it 4ft or anything like it, just a trick of perspective, it moves like a domestic cat not a puma or leopard. there are plenty of authentucated reports of jungle cats being found dead. but this one is quite likely a melonistic wildcat which is in any case larger than a domestic cat.

I don't think it's a wildcat - the tail is far too long and slender. Wildcats have short, stubby tails.

 

[Toddy]

One of my neighbours was down at a shoot near there recently. He said last night that 49 folks saw huge cat prints. Defintiely cat, not dog or anything else. These folks hunt and they do know the native fauna.
There's something big in the woodlands and moors.
Be nice to get something definite, but if folks caught the poor beast they'd just kill or cage it.

Like the Loch Ness monster, better never caught for real.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Silverclaws]

Seen one, near Dozmary pool, in fact, it made me brake hard when it vaulted the drystone wall ran across the road in front of me and vaulted the drystone wall on the other side of the road and hoofed off across a field at speed. Big sleek, black, and shifting at speed.

The hard braking was never a good idea in a camper van, as everything flings open and spills out of the lockers, even the bed jumped it's mountings, I just could not believe what I saw come over the wall at the side of the road, the braking came with that, it passed about twenty feet in front of us, and I have a natural aversion to running over cats, anything moves across the front of me, I throw out the anchors.

Asked later why I did not report the sighting, my answer was no chance, I won't, as it is bothering no one, yeah, it might take the odd mixy rabbit, or weakling sheep, but it is causing no harm, and it is a pure delight to such a magnificent creature running free, and not in a cage.

I for one welcome the return of creatures to respect in our country.

 

[Thijzzz]

A friend of mine lives in a flat with view on a barren piece of land. There is a big cat living there, it's about twice as big as a normal house cat. But because it's spotted (white, black and brown) it must be a descendant from a domestic cat. I've heard more then once that some domestic cats that live in the wild can grow a fait bit bigger then their stay-ay-home counterparts.

It may have to do with the "survival of the fittest" information in the genes: if being bigger would give this cat better survival options, it's genes may "release" the cat to grow bigger than a house cat. In other words, the genes make it possible for the cat to be better adapted to the environment and thus survive and spread its genes.

 

[jimford]

Some years ago there was a television programme about a person that had made it their mission to investigate all sheep killings (in the West Country IIRC), that were claimed to be by 'big cats'. In all cases he found that the killings had been by dogs.

Jim

 

[Silverclaws]

A friend of mine lives in a flat with view on a barren piece of land. There is a big cat living there, it's about twice as big as a normal house cat. But because it's spotted (white, black and brown) it must be a descendant from a domestic cat. I've heard more then once that some domestic cats that live in the wild can grow a fait bit bigger then their stay-ay-home counterparts.

It may have to do with the "survival of the fittest" information in the genes: if being bigger would give this cat better survival options, it's genes may "release" the cat to grow bigger than a house cat. In other words, the genes make it possible for the cat to be better adapted to the environment and thus survive and spread its genes.

Interestingly, there are some breeds of domestic moggy that are to the unfamiliar reminiscent of what they think of as '' Big cats ''. For example, the Maine Coon, usually twice the size of a hard bottom tomcat, and then there is the Scogkatt, it a more recent happening with nature, a domestic moggy face, but with such refinements as a double coat, massive feet and body and Lynx/bobcat type ears, a lovely creature. I may be getting a skogkatt soon, take it fishing for it's own food, as these things don't mind water. There are other big domestic cats, a pal had these bluey black things, my first impression was puma, but they were burmese something or other, they were monstous in size.

 

[Neumo]

Some ferral cats can grow to be the size of a medium dog (up to 3 feet from nose to it's backside), but they look like large domestic cats. A couple of years ago while out pigeon shooting on a farm I was standing in a ditch on the side of a field waiting for some pigeons to come in when I saw one hunting rabbits. It was a bit bigger than a fox in size. It looked like a large normal cat & moved like one as well. While out and about I see domestic cats hunting rabbits, so it made sense to me. As far as I am concerned it's just another of natures wonders that is just going about it's business of surviving, so I let it be. When I mentioned it to the farmer he knew about it & wanted it shot if I saw it again as he claimed it took his chickens, which may have been true. I have never seen it again but they are out there and the un-neutered males can grow pretty big.