LIONS OF THE EAST (Mystery Big Cats Cryptozoology Documentary)

The Last Puma In Vermont?

 "There is no need to be concerned or troubled. Tigers do not live here"

Last words of 45 years experience wildlife hunting and trapping expert 2 hours before being killed by a tiger.

Above: a life wasted and a human (c)2025 respective copyright owner

It is almost as though all the work of Helen McGuiness and the Eastern Cougar Foundation just never existed. According to Vermont History Explorer

 https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/the-last-catamount-in-vermont

"Some people say they have seen a catamount in the woods.

"Catamounts are large wild cats that are also called panthers, cougars or mountain lions. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. This catamount is on display at the Vermont History Museum.

"On Thanksgiving Day in 1881, a boy named James Cadwell was hunting in Barnard. He noticed tracks in the snow and started following them. After awhile, he saw what had made the tracks – a huge panther! Cadwell asked Alexander Crowell, a hunter, for help.

"After they tracked the animal, Crowell shot the panther twice. First he shot the panther in the leg with a shot gun. Then he grabbed a rifle from another hunter and shot the panther in the head.

"Why did Alexander Crowell shoot the catamount?

"In the wild, catamounts ate deer and other animals. But in the 1800s, farmers had cut down many trees and turned forests into farms. Without the trees, there were not as many deer as before. The catamounts started eating sheep that lived on farms. The farmers and hunters killed the panthers to protect their sheep.

"After Crowell shot the catamount, he had his picture taken with the animal. People could buy pictures of the huge animal. After he was stuffed, the catamount was taken all over Vermont for people to see. For 10 cents, people could see the monster panther! Later on, the catamount was given to the museum. Come visit the catamount when you are in Montpelier.

"Some people say they have seen catamounts over the years. There are many more trees in Vermont now than there were 140 years ago. There might be more places for catamounts to hide. But scientists have not found any proof of catamounts in Vermont.

Above: the face of extinction (c)2025 respective copyright owner

"If there are catamounts in Vermont, it is illegal to shoot them now. Catamounts are endangered animals."

Well, let's be honest the answer to the question "Why did Alexander Crowell shoot the catamount?" is for fun on a boring day. He couldn't even kill it outright.  It is the same mentality existing today; bring wolves back from extinction. Kill. Bring back from extinction ad infinitum. 

According to Vermont Public https://www.vermontpublic.org/vpr-news/2018-01-24/its-official-feds-declare-the-catamount-extinct

It's Official: Feds Declare The Catamount Extinct

Vermont Public | By Howard Weiss-Tisman

Published January 24, 2018 at 12:46 PM EST

 

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there is no evidence that the catamount is still roaming in the Northeast, and the federal agency has officially removed the large cat from the federal endangered species list.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a determination in 2015 about the eastern puma — commonly known as "the catamount" — and opened up the opportunity for public and peer comments.

"This week the federal agency issued its final rule declaring that the eastern puma is extinct and took the animal off of the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.

"Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter says even though the federal designation comes as no surprise, it does require a moment of reflection.

"Any time you have to acknowledge that a subspecies or a population has disappeared, you know, that's a failure that we have to face up to and acknowledge," Porter said. "Our mission is to protect all species in the state and make sure that they aren't eliminated. The federal government has a mission of doing the same on a national scale. And so it is a somber, although not unexpected, development."

"Once a specific animal is removed from the endangered species list and it is determined to be extinct, states can consider reintroducing other members of its species into the wild.

"In a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, conservation advocate Michael Robinson called on states in the northeast to consider bringing large cats back.

"We need large carnivores like cougars to keep the wild food web healthy, so we hope eastern and Midwestern states will reintroduce them," Robinson said in the release. "Cougars would curb deer overpopulation and tick-borne diseases that threaten human health." 

"Porter says there have been no talks with nearby states to reintroduce western cougars into the wild here.

"It's not something we are considering or thinking about. A predator of this size can be involved in a lot of conflicts with people, or with livestock, so there's a potential with any predator of this size to have conflicts with humans," said Porter. "The territory that they need and the conditions they need would be difficult to find in Vermont. They need large pieces of unbroken land to roam."

 "Porter also says the catamount remains protected under Vermont law, even though U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed it from the federal endangered species list.

 "The eastern cougar once roamed across the eastern U.S. and Canada. However the last catamount that was killed in Vermont was shot in 1881, and one killed in Maine in 1938 was the last killed in New England.

 "There was a cougar killed in Connecticut in 2011. But wildlife officials say the animal was most likely from South Dakota, and it traveled across the country, through New York state, before it was hit by a car on the highway about 70 miles north of New York City."

Above: the puma on display (c)2025 respective copyright owner

Pumas have been seen in and around U.S. cities and like coyote they are becoming more urbanised because humans have built on their territories (so clearly the coyotes and puma are to blame). I think the jokes and ridicule that comes with sighting puma even in areas where they once existed and anecdotal evidence shows that they still occur, is protecting them to some degree. However, officially recognising that puma are seen in an area (as part of their overall territory) help-s people be "puma aware" in their work and recreation.

That same ridicule has helped exotics in the UK to have a steady, almost unhindered existence -even though locals have known for several generations that they are out there. I would be more worried about gun, crossbow and bow carrying morons out in the countryside than any puma.

Cat Sightings, Black Puma and Reading Nonsense

 Just to make a point since most people get things wrong or do not know what was going on behind the scenes.

"Felicity" the Cannich puma captured in the early 1980s was not a solitary puma.

As noted in my book (Red Paper 2025) I was in regular correspondence with Arthur Cadman a well known naturalist as well as a man involved in the planning of many post World War II forests in England and Wales. Arthur had been observing a group of pumas for several years and told me in a letter that an older female in that group was getting old and he thought she might be shot or tapped "soon" -and he was.

"Pumas are solitary animals" is not necessarily a correct statement. Two pumas from Wales that were under study met up frequently and not just during breeding season. Puma can live happily together if they have to and if they grew up in captivity together they tend to stick close and their offspring will learn from that behaviour.

We see rescued puma living together peacefully (4-5 in a group) with no conflict even when a new member to the group is slowly introduced.

One of the first modern era (1970s) sightings of a puma on the Welsh borders was by a nurse who use to love visiting the puma at Chester Zoo. She wrote to me back in the early 1980s that she was in no doubt that what she observed very close to (she called her young daughter back to the car over safety concerns) on a family day out was a puma. However, she was mystified by the smaller "Sphynx-like cat that was spotted" that came up behind the puma. I sent her a photo of a juvenile photo with no information and she identified it as the smaller cat -Chester had never had young puma.

That was pre 1976 and the semi mythical release of non native cats in the UK.

Puma were kept as pets by house wives -in the 1920s there was the Surrey puma hunt one night for one that had broken loose. That account I came across while trawling through newspaper archives for something else -I double checked the date as "A Surrey Puma Hunt" sounded more 1960s/1970s and I thought I had the wrong newspaper and date!

Puma have been in the UK since America was a colony and fauna was sent to England. However, most puma originated from Central-South America including black ones. That is significant in that we know that there are black puma in the UK and all of the experts (X=the Unknown and "spurt" is a drip under pressure) will tell you black puma are more likely in Central and South America. This despite all the hunting and other books pre 1900 (that they have never read because dogma is easier to recite) giving matter-of-fact accounts of black puma in North America. These are all dismissed (again without going to the source) with the Knowledge of Idiocy as being mistaken identifications "they saw an escaped leopard" or "It was a jaguar". You see, people who have hunted local animals for 'sport' or have observed them since childhood such as native tribes are dumb and have no idea what they have seen and killed because they are not sat in a comfortable chair with a PhD in spouting dogma.

One senior zoologists was within 100 yards of one in good lighting conditions and checked every diagnostic feature -this man had also been involved in work studying puma in Canada so he knew what one looked like.What did a biologist say in response? "Oh he saw a leopard but dismissed that idea because he didn't want to think of those being in the UK so said puma". I repeated that response and the zoologist was quite willing to go over his sighting and qualifications with the biologist. He even gave his phone number. FOUR times I tried to get the biologist to contact the man but an excuse every time. I later learnt that he was a "MAFF/DEFRA expert witness" and as we all know MAFF/DEFRA do not believe in these sightings (even by their own people).

Not everything started in or after 1976 and what you read online (does anyone read books now?) or in the old cryptozoology books including Janet and Colin Bord and their Alien Animals book along with those by Di Francis are often quoted or referred to as being factual. They are not. The nicest thing that I can write about the Bords book is that it is cryptozoological/supernatural "faff" with the odd fact. Francis I spoke to a number of times and her knowledge of any type of cat can be called poor or eccentric at best.simply regurgitated inaccuracies for the most part.

We are dealing with cats that have adapted and do not act 100% like the cats of the forests and plains that feature in documentaries. Making a map of sightings when many sound like mis-identifications or fake does not help. These cats are not confined to one small geographical era and that just does not seem to get through to people.

************************************************************

MAFF -=Ministry of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food DEFRA its successor -Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs

Before I am criticised for not writing "pumas" as a plural: The plural of puma is pumas, though puma can also be used as a plural form, especially in formal writing or when referring to the animal as a general species (like 'sheep' or 'deer'). Most commonly, you'll see and hear pumas when talking about multiple individuals. 

Large Cats Killing Sheep Is Far From A Modern Occurrence.

 

For my research work -whether canids or felids- I have read hundreds of newspaper archive reports and I have the eye strain to prove it.  During my work as a consultant to UK police forces (1977-2018) or even working with farmers groups I was always able to tell a sheep that was victim of a dog attack. Canids attack a certain way and are messy and when more than one dog is involved they are noisy. 

I never once heard "it was a pack of dogs killed it and only 100 yards from the house!" and believed it. The sheep never made a distress noise? The excited dogs never yapped or barked and all within 100 yards of a house in which sat four people having coffee with the kitchen door open as it was a warm night?

A point needs to be made that farmers know they are not going to get any insurance money for a dead sheep if they say "It was killed by a panther/puma". They may have seen the cat around and I know at least two insurance agents as well as members of the National Farmers Union who have sighted a large cat on a property. The kill may be very cat-like BUT who are you going to call in to prove it? How much will it cost? And as insurers do not recognise "big cat attack" as being covered by a policy a farmer would lose out.  One farmer told me in the 1990s that his insurance agent knew it was a large cat that attacked and killed and then consumed some of it but he gave the farmer a knowing wink and completed the insurance paperwork: "Yes, definitely a sheep savaged and killed by a dog, right?" Was that true? I eventually learnt that it was and that it happened in other parts of the country -it was 'dog attack' and get compensation or insist it was a big cat and get none.

One farmer in the 1990s (in Wales) had a flock of "common old sheep" but had also invested in a flock of expensive (apologies if I get this wrong as sheep are not my speciality -and a Google search had AI respond that it was an outdated racist practice!) black faced sheep (Surrey?). It was always the expensive black-faced sheep the puma took and he knew that he would get no compensation.

People calling themselves 'experts' (after 50 years I would not even call myself an expert!) will tell everyone that a cat (leopard or puma) will simply select a sheep and kill it. Anything involving more than one dead sheep would be dogs or "some mystery animal".  Large cats can and do kill more than they can eat -possibly due to starvation/lack of wild prey (instinct is to kill and have a cache of food for later). China TV on 16th  February, 2017 showed footage of a snow leopard that entered a sheep pen and killed  38 sheep and days later another killed 13 goats. Leopards and even puma have been known to do likewise.

For these reasons every report is read to ascertain whether how sheep were killed is mentioned. Faces bitten, torn and so on is usually a good indicator of a canid -a fox is a domestic cat sized animal and despite what hunts want you to believe they do not take down sheep.

If you look at this report  out of 900 sheep 15 were killed or injured out and "what looked like a large black 'dog'" was sighted and shot at -there was a similar event of sheep killed by a mystery "black animal" at Edale in Derbyshire in the 1920s. The method of kill etc was typical of a leopard (Red Paper 2022 Vol. II: Felidae) .  This is from Mearns Leader - Friday 02 August 1946

Interesting in that there are parallels with Bodmin in the 1980s in this article from the  Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian - Saturday 17 August 1912. One of the Royal Marines dug in watching a field of sheep told me he and his pal had a boring night but after dawn when they stood up and turned around some hundred yards away was a sheep that had been killed and partly eaten. They had heard nothing.

The "shoulder and the throat have been "pulled out" which almost sounds like a leopard Leicester Evening Mail - Monday 05 February 1934

Sadly, it is far too long ago to look for new details -or any witnesses!  No report of a post mortem examination (it should be noted that few farmers can afford to pay for PMEs and that official PM services will not touch any such animals and when they do "it is always dog" (the veterinary pathologist added: "it may have all the hall marks of a cat kill and a large cat may have been seen but it is still a dog attack!").

The below photo shows the throat wound and how the shoulder of this sheep (in Africa) has been ripped completely away.  I knew two zoologists who wanted to see whether they (combined) could rip off a sheep's leg. They found that even after they "partially butchered" it they could not tear the leg off).

As for where these cats might come from; looking at a map it is quite clear that a lot of historical/modern cat territories are centred in old hunting territory or near to stately homes. We also know that a lot of hunt masters released (it is on the public record) jackals, wolves and coyotes to hunt in England and Wales. In fact, in the mid 1800s one Devon Hunt Master had to stop the release of a wolf to hunt after local protest -whether the wolf was released anyway we have no idea. "Local dignitaries" had a great deal covered up by fawning newspaper editors. 

We also know that anyone who wanted to could keep an exotic pet and this went on for hundreds of years until the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (the false "mass release" date for exotics so often quoted by people who have no idea).  There were private menageries in back gardens, private estates and even the odd railway station. In the Red Paper 2022: Felidae and the self contained Red Paper 2025 Wild Menagerie -Britain's New Native Species I include a report from a magazine in the 1920s that I came across quite by accident on a Surrey Puma escape.

Hunts or estate menagerie/exotic pet escapes -a lot of choice and when you consider how common escapes of animals including wolves, gorillas, kangaroos et al were from travelling menageries and even how such animals simply vanished as the travelling shows closed down there is even more choice!

Preston Wolf Dogs

 

Animal Watch Update on the Preston Wolfdogs Found Wandering the Streets

Animal Watch is thrilled to share some uplifting news from 8 Below Husky Rescue, who have been working tirelessly to stabilise and rehabilitate three very special pups — Little Timmy, Brooke and Boo.

At today’s vet check, all three “wolfie” pups showed brilliant progress. Each has gained around 2kg, Little Timmy’s cough has finally cleared, and all three received their second vaccinations. Their body condition is improving, their tummies are settling, and although they still have a long road ahead in terms of weight, they are most definitely moving in the right direction.

Next week marks a huge milestone: the pups will be heading to their specialist wolfdog placement, a team dedicated to giving them the long-term care, socialisation and environment they truly need. The handover will no doubt be emotional — everyone at 8 Below has grown incredibly fond of these little wolfdogs — but this move has always been part of the plan. It ensures they receive the expert support essential for their future.

Their Embark DNA tests have been completed, and we’re now waiting for the results. As soon as 8 Below receives them, they’ll be shared with everyone.

A heartfelt thank you to all who have sent messages and well wishes. It’s important to note that these pups were never intended to stay at 8 Below for rehoming. Their mission was always: rescue, stabilise, provide immediate veterinary care, and then collaborate with trusted wolfdog specialists, who have also welcomed 8 Below to remain part of the pups’ journey with open invitations to visit.

Animal Watch stands firmly behind rescues like 8 Below, who step up in true emergencies and give dogs like Little Timmy, Brooke and Boo the second chance they deserve.

If you’d like to support their essential work, please consider donating to 8 Below Husky Rescue

Thank you for standing with them — and with these three beautiful pups — on their road to recovery.

The Red Paper 2025: Britain's New Native Species

 I was rushing through the blog dashboard  to check something and did a double take. Put on my spectacles. The Red Paper 2025:Britain'sNew Native Species looking at exotics has been viewed by over 2000 people.

So there is intertest out there. I went to my online store and found that sales of the book had reached a total of....one copy.    

The interest is there so long as people do not have to buy a book and read it even if it answers many questions they will not find on all the copy and paste or just tell lies sites.  What is the only saying "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink"?

After US tax and the exchange rate I will earn about £2/$2 from that book. Well worth 50 years work.

96 Pages

Print Book: A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm), 

Standard Color, 60# White — Uncoated, Paperback 

Perfect Bound, Glossy Cover

Price:£12.00 GBP

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/wild-menagerie-britains-new-natve-species/paperback/product-zmr7y52.html?page=1&pageSize=4

For decades there have been reports of “Big Cats” roaming the British countryside killing sheep and deer. Are all of the observers from naturalists,zoologists, zoo personnel, police and others all mistaken?

Terry Hooper-Scharf set up the Exotic Animals Register (EAR) in 1977 to disprove the claims before become a UK police forces exotic wildlife consultant and member of the Partnership Against Wildlife crime (PAWS).  What he found out was almost unbelievable but with the gathered evidence including DNA results and bone analysis it seemed that there were exotic cats in the UK and that some had been here at least going back to the early 19th century.

The presented evidence saw the Department of Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) force him off the PAWS scheme despite police protests.

Now read fact and not sensationalist press or fringe claims.

Yes, Jackals and Hyena Do Come Into The Work

  I was reminded today of a time that I was being interviewed by the BBC (before I blacklisted them in 1997) for a Radio 4 programme.  We had briefly covered my work with exotics in the UK and there was an element of frustration from the BBC reporter that I would not discuss the work I did with UK police forces. I had explained that I was on the Partners Against Wildlife Crime list of experts and that I was also covered by the then Public Records Act (is that still a thing?). I advised forces and forces had observers contact me and so there was back and forth and like the police I treated people I spoke to in the greatest confidentiality -in fact in some cases it was the only way to get them to tell me what they saw and not fear ridicule or their name all over newspapers. I would not betray that confidence or today.

The BBC reporter was looking through notes and then seemed to have an idea: "How about telling us what animals have influenced you and your work?" There was a smile as the poor reporter expected something good.

I spoke for 30 minutes on jackals and hyenas. All the time the reporter was making notes and seemed as though on the verge of a breakthrough. "We have those in the UK -you've had reports come in?"  Although I had explained everything the reporter's ears were selective in what they heard. 

I had once had to travel across Bristol, after a snow storm disrupted roads, to get to BBC Whiteladies Road studio to be interviewed by a radio 5 reporter. A two hour journey there and another two hours home after an hour long interview.  Altogether 55 minutes had been recorded. I waited for the segment on the radio days later. One minute. Five hours of my life wasted and never compensated as promised for a just about 1 minute sound bite. That could have been done over the phone.

Franklyn A Davin-Wilson c 1977 (c)2025 T. Hooper

When it comes to the question of "Why jackals?" the answer is simple.Around 1977 I was at a meeting of the British Flying Saucer Bureau in Bristol. I was invited by an astronomer who only informed me just before that he would not attend "You do your stuff" he told me...I still have no idea what my "stuff" was.  Anyway, I was approached by a short man with rather odd clothing and a flattened "Russian Diplomat" style hat: Franklyn Angus Davin-Wilson He smiled at me and said "Your new here, aren't you?" As he held out his hand his smiled showed two long vampire fangs. He was rather disappointed at my reaction -people were usually either taken aback jumped back. I learnt that the teeth were actually from a dead fox and a dentist friend had made a false set of teeth for him to wear.  He smiled again and told me that he liked the lack of panic "I think we are going to be friends" he told me.

During our following conversation he learnt of my interest in wildlife. As it happened he was also a very keen naturalist and I later inherited his collection of 19th century books on lepidoptera, arachnids and beetles.  He asked what I thought about the "Vampire sheep slayer of Badminton" to which my response was that I had never heard of vampire sheep before; "Yes, they never thought that title through" was his response. The killing of sheep and draining of blood from their bodies had been reported on by Charles Hoy Fort (after who the "Forteans" name themselves). Fort had an habit of misreporting or even giving sources that contained none of what he included in his books.  I have dealt with these incidents in both the 2010 and updated 2022 Red Paper Canids.

It took a few years of trawling through old newspapers at the Bristol Central Library before I had amassed a good amount of information on the case.  It could be said that this was my first Jackal in the UK case.

Golden Jackal (c)2025 respective copyright owner

The Sevenoaks jackal was another (sadly, all of the cryptozoologists and Forteans who use my material never credit me).  I had no idea at the time that for almost 50 years I would be studying jackals  or that it would lead me to discovering why jackals were in the UK and the standard explanation was always that they had escaped travel;ling menageries (I leave out the brainless theory that they were somehow supernaturally transported here and then vanished).

Oddly, this led into my research on coyotes in the UK and wolves -again fully explained in my books even though at first I doubted what I had found as it was all in plain sight and easily findable but people had forgotten or preferred fantasy or dogma over fact. Incidentally, a lot of these 'mystery canid' reports come from the same areas where we get (historically to today) puma, lynx and panther reports: big hunting estates.

What about the hyena then?  Again, late 1970s I was told about this mystery creature known as "The Beast of Gevaudan"  that slaughtered live stock and people between 1764-1767 in France. Forteans and cryptozoologist had it marked down as a paranormal creature, a werewolf (I'm not joking), a Dire wolf -an extinct species of canine which was native to the Americas during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs (125,000–10,000 years ago). Other Forteans seem to almost relish the theory that the 'beast' was a child sex killer (again, I am not joking) despite not all the victims being young or human.

There were certain t6hings in the accounts that as I read them struck a memory and the animal I had in mind was neither a "freak gigantic wolf"  nor an extinct species. I was thinking of hyena. Today "copy and paste" is almost -it is- standard for people writing on these topics since they have no idea everything they need is in what someone wrote before them...and that writer probably also copied from someone else. No one seems to have looked at how the animal attacked and killed or the geography of the area.

Back in those days before the internet you wrote letters and it might take a week or two but you got responses. It takes a minute for an email to out out and no one responds now. But, as outlined in Mysterious and Strange Beasts, I received a reply and a paper published by a museum and it clearly identified the beast as a hyena. The fur was in storage up until (possibly) 1950s when it went "missing". The British press of the day even mocked the French over being messed about by a hyena.  

A one off hyena killer. Well, uh, not really because there were other "beasts" in France at the time and some of those appear to have been hyena. Remnant population spreading out across a part of France or escapees breeding and living wild -that we cannot answer, However, after many decades I am still trying to find one last piece of evidence that may indicate that there was a population that eventually died off through inbreeding (I am currently trying to find a copy of that source).

hyena (c)2025 respective copyright owner

People think I am odd because I like hyena (or "hyenas" if you prefer). But I am still studying and researching hyena as I am jackals I have hefty files and one day I hope these may help promote further historical research as everything is referenced -sometimes with more than four reference sources.

That hyena and jackals crop up in my work on Old British foxes and even wild dogs should not be surprising. For many involved in Fortean or cryptozoology "it was a clearly identified dog" is not sensationalist or sexy enough to sell magazines or books. It always has to be "A previously unknown big cat"/ "Hyena"/ "Dire wolf"/ or "paraform (paranormal) creature".