The U.K. does seem to have it's fair share of big cats, They are more likely illegally kept play things & when the " owners" are fed up with them or unable to control them they are disposed of i.e. dumped in the countryside.........Escaped animals from zoos, circuses or private collections are usually recaptured soon after the event. There must also be continuous releases as some of thes" beasts" have been roaming fo over 30 years & no big cat lives that long.
TRACKS: Who dunnit?
- Thread starter JonathanD
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The U.K. does seem to have it's fair share of big cats, They are more likely illegally kept play things & when the " owners" are fed up with them or unable to control them they are disposed of i.e. dumped in the countryside.........Escaped animals from zoos, circuses or private collections are usually recaptured soon after the event. There must also be continuous releases as some of thes" beasts" have been roaming fo over 30 years & no big cat lives that long.
a dog would have no trouble what so ever jumping a metre high wall my dad's jack russell used to get over them no problem. a lot of people don't realise that dogs are incredible jumpers they just have to be taught to bring it out. we've had to modify the gate leading to my nans house next door because my collie could jump over it and its a 6 foot fence
Yes I know many dogs could easily jump a metre high fence, but they would have stopped, looked for another way before finally jumping & the tracks show no sign of this, also a dog would take a run up rather than jump from a standing start, again no trace of this, everything about these tracks says cat....thanks for your comment.
Well, I'd like to say I found something... but I didn't. Most of the tracks have been overtrodden by badgers, but I did take a few more that were left further up the trail. Bear with me while I upload them.
Yeah, more evidence to ponder and I took some pictures of the area to give a better idea. Here you can see a pond fed by a freshwater stream, the tracks came from here, but it is really marshy and I couldn't get close enough in without getting wet to backtrack far enough. It also leads onto private land. Nearest habitation is about one mile away and the surrounding area is a huge expanse of pine woods, deciduous forest which is surrounded by this low grass scrub before you reach fields mostly used for sheep, or kept unused due to the high water content. Further on from that is heathland and more scrub. You don't get many walkers here at all, and teh only people I've ever seen have been on mountain bikes. Roe deer tracks are everywhere, as are badger. Strangely though, I've found no sign of fox at all.
This is a close up of the right hand print previously recorded, as you can see on the bottom left and upper right. Whatever it was had come back briefly along the same path, and as these tracks were the freshest, I followed those...
And further up the trail...
It winds further into the woods and the muddy patches disappear. Harder ground carries on from here and it is a badger path, but the trail is clear, although the camera doesn't pick them up in long shots...
After that they disappear onto a very (about a 65-70 degree gradient) steep grassy bank and over a barbed wire fence that is roughly a metre high. No sign of hair snagged on there. I did find some scat though, which would seem a strange place given the acute bank angle, at least for a dog anyway. There was also hair running through the centre, but only faint traces along the outer suface. It averaged about 3cm in diameter as you can see.
Make from all that what you can. One thing is certain in all of those prints.... they don't take on a canine shape in any of the subsequent and previous prints, and there us certainly no presence of claws, even in deeper mud.
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I've just drawn an 8cm diameter circle onto some graph paper to help visualise and it's a fair old size.
Did you get any measure of the gait?
Did you get any measure of the gait?
Where it was just walking along that path, the gait was about 40-45cm and the tracks were pretty much in single file. Yeah, they are a fair size. Certainly much bigger than the largest moggy.
No worries BG threads always go like that.
The print size doesn't actually change in size that much from the softer to firm ground (where the print is only registered as transference), and it still averages around the 8cm mark. There is a large population of rodents around there as the habitat supports a large V. berus population. There are also loads of rabbits, which I forgot to mention.
It is much bigger than a domestic cat. Do what Bushwhacker did and get a piece of paper and draw an 8.5cm diameter circle in it, then draw the print inside that and you'll see what I mean and I think the size will surprise you. It's very big.
There wasn't much of a smell to it. The yellowy/orange bits are fluffy spores growing on the outer surface, not in the stool itself. I couldn't find any trace of tail drag anywhere along any of the paths.
It certainly isn't leopard/panther sized. I've seen these first hand in Africa, and they are much bigger. So any 'Black-Big Cat' fans are going to be disapointed
It certainly isn't leopard/panther sized. I've seen these first hand in Africa, and they are much bigger. So any 'Black-Big Cat' fans are going to be disapointed
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Like I said, its definitely a leopard, maybe, size fits just about. Still dont see the proper rear pad imprint for a cat. Will have to look at the skat later.
Like someone else said, if you eliminate all other possibilities, whatevers left..etc. (Commander Spock said it better!
)
Like someone else said, if you eliminate all other possibilities, whatevers left..etc. (Commander Spock said it better!
)
Like I said, its definitely a leopard, maybe, size fits just about. Still dont see the proper rear pad imprint for a cat. Will have to look at the skat later.
Like someone else said, if you eliminate all other possibilities, whatevers left..etc. (Commander Spock said it better!
Too small for leopard I'm afraid. You are looking at about 10cm diameter plus for them.
Hummm....runs downstairs.....bugger...my book here says about 9cm long for leopard. Was there a length given?....reads back
Ok so book says 9cm length for leopards. Mystery print was 8cm. Small leopard. female. I just want it to be a leopard. Hopefully I'll manage so spot one in March. That would be great.
Certainly would. Leopards roaming these hills would seriously impede my camping out confidence. So lets hope not eh
Certainly would. Leopards roaming these hills would seriously impede my camping out confidence. So lets hope not eh
Don't worry mate, Pistachio Man never lets it off the lead.
I have a plan Andy. It involves you and me in a high seat with camera equipment, and Dave dressed in a meat-suit down below. You up for it?
Hell yeah, lol. I can see Dave dressed up like a T-bone now, lol. We need to record the bleating of a distressed lamb too.
