The Bodmin Beast

[Mick F]

Thread resurrection alert!

This morning, only about an hour ago, I was in our wood collecting firewood.
As I entered the wood, I always have a good look to see if there are any fallen trees. Sadly, not, just the ones I know about.

Any road up, as I looked, I saw a big cat run across from right to left about fifty yards from me. Damned fast too!
It was a "cat" by the way it ran, but very fast indeed. Not much cover up there at the moment for it to hide.
It was a dull grey in colour and about 2ft high at the shoulder. I only saw it for a couple of seconds, and it was gone.

Last week, I found a dead and mostly eaten deer. Head was intact, and the spinal column had been bitten through. One back leg and the rib-cage were nearby.

It was a mystery what had happened to it, but now I reckon it was "our" big cat wot did it.

Note, this is NOT an April Fool. It's a true as I'm sitting here typing.

[Jdsk]

There's a real skunk in London:
https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/29/london-c ... -18522515/

Jonathan

PS: Good Wikipedia article, including actual occurrences, photography and DNA: "British big cats":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_big_cats

[rjb]

Oh deer.

[reohn2]

Mick
Lynx?

They're out there without doubt,too many sightings and other kill evidence,like yours,to be anything else.

[Mick F]

I've been chatting about this today, and looking up on the internet as well.
Lynx and "big cats" are mentioned a lot, but none of the images I've seen are like I've seen today, or years ago.

What I saw was a big cat ......... not a Big Cat.
I said 2ft high, but really thinking about it, it was more like 18" - possibly less.

The one today saw me, and then shot off like a rocket. I watched it run, faster and more fluid than I've ever seen anything run before.
The one 17(?) years ago, had to bound through the bracken, so it must have been summertime. That one then was sandy brown, and the one today was grey-ish.

Wouldn't it be good if you could plug in a USB into your head, and download what I saw!
All I have is the memory.

Nearest I've found to what I saw looked a bit like a Jungle Cat, but a bit bigger and tougher looking and with a bigger head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_cat#

[Jdsk]

...
Nearest I've found to what I saw looked a bit like a Jungle Cat, but a bit bigger and tougher looking and with a bigger head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_cat#

Two jungle cats have been reliably identified in the wild in the UK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_b ... nd_remains

Jonathan

[rjb]

If the cat dosent get you there's always the Buzzard hovering around.
viewtopic.php?t=18058#p145670

[diapason]

Years ago, I worked at Barrow Gurney, originally an old Victorian lunatic asylum, then a psychiatric hospital (now a housing estate). There were many 'sightings' of the alleged 'Beast of Barrow, although many people reckoned it was the Consultant Psychiatrist coming back from the pub.

[reohn2]

......Nearest I've found to what I saw looked a bit like a Jungle Cat, but a bit bigger and tougher looking and with a bigger head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_cat#

Sounds and looks like a distinct possibility.
Watch yer back Mick

[Mick F]

Coincidence or not?

Chatting to a neighbour yesterday afternoon, who knows the local farmer quite well. They were chatting about this and that, and neighbour mentions the dead (and mostly eaten) deer and how I have seen a "big cat" in our woods. Farmer's field abuts our wood and he has sheep in there.

Farmer says that one of his sheep as been attacked, killed and large parts of it were missing.

[Jdsk]

"Panthera Britannia Declassified":
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panthera-Brita ... s_li_ss_tl

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... h-big-cats

Other ways to waste time and money are also available.

Jonathan

[harriedgary]

rich folk letting their pet cats roam free for a natural meal.
Read the other day about the python hunt that goes on each year in the Florida Everglades. They don't know how many there are now, but fear there could be tens of thousands, having colonised then out-competed the natural wildlife there.

[pwa]

We need a vibrant mythical beast story like this in our lives, now that Nessie has fizzled out.

[Carlton green]

Big black cat. It’s some years ago but I’ve seen one (on the opposite bank of a river) and so has the wife’s cousin. Walking in the woods, a couple of months back, I came across a dead fox, all that was left if it was its head and part if its spine. Makes you wonder how that could be, and hope not to come across the reason.

Though defenceless some sheep breeds can be quite big, whatever attacks and kills them ain’t small …

[reohn2]

We need a vibrant mythical beast story like this in our lives, now that Nessie has fizzled out.

I don't think big cats roaming wild in the UK are many as we're currently being led to believe in the media but I do believe they are there,though the chances of encountering one is minimal given their solitary nature and avoidance of humanity unless desperate.