Big Cats Caught on Camera in the UK

National World - Broadcast Video

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.

Transcript

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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