Animals are being killed and it is NOT being kept "hush hush"

This item was forwarded to me today and to be honest seeing all the utter bilge being typed about this shows why no on takes the "Big Cat Enthusiasts" seriously.  Firstly, there is, and this has been established in my 40+ years career looking into the subject, only one member of the Big cat family in the UK -the leopard/panther. This species has been recorded going back to the Middle Ages as being living out in the wild. Of course there is no breeding taking place if just a male or female is the animal involved. For Big Cat Enthusiasts: you need a male and a female for breeding.

Secondly, the cats in these photos look like domestic cats -probably feral cats- and here is the reason why these photographs have absolutely no value. Measurement. A tape measure beside the cat or even a known and measurable object that could be used to calculate body length -all missing.  Did anyone collect blood samples from the wounds or even take some hair samples? No? Then all we have is a photo of a dead cat. 

If you look at the ears of the cat they look typical of domestic cats. The tail is also typical of a domestic cat as is the rest of the body. Road kill cats are a popular source of 'big cat evidence' in the Forest of Dean it seems. One person was touting such photos around to TV companies back in the 1990s and his nonsense was so irritating and annoying that TV companies put a short ban on "Big Cat" items.

The cat involved has to markers to indicate size so it cannot even be called a possible "Hooper Cat" (a name police wildlife officers used for certain reports back in the 1990s -I am planning on updating my paper on that subject).

Forestry rangers and others cannot be silenced. This is not the military dealing with top secret information. They can be told/asked to keep quiet by their supervisor for the same reason that the Exotic Animals Register as well as local police wildlife crimes officer (PWCOs)  advised farmers and others to keep it quiet: illegal hunts.

There is a massive hunt culture in the UK where people "not all there" want to go out to shoot and kill foxes, badgers and anything else on four legs. In the past we monitored fake stories of Big Cats and without fail unmarked vans, landrovers or several vehicles together turned up in an area and men were observed using torchlight to search around and all of them were armed. Very lead footed attempts were made by individuals to get "local big cat" information in pubs and shops. One estate warden attempting to approach a group of these people had a cross-bow bolt fired at him.

There is enough poaching and illegal hunting going on in forests without inviting even more gun toting people (who in the past have wounded farm stock when mistakenly believing them to be "big cats") prone to violence when confronted. Regular users of woods and forests get put in danger. THAT is not a cover up.

Also, the Department of Environment Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has a very open policy of any "exotic" being an "Invasive Species" and as such are listed for "eradication" -not taking to a wildlife park or rescue that has safe enclosures (which might attract a lot more visitors and money) but killed. Usually on the spot or out of the view of the public. This is what led to mu eventual unlisting from the Partners Against Wildlife Crime (PAWS) register.

This is 10 years old now and was sent to me by a reporter, Jennie Dennett who wanted to find out more about the large cat sightings going on in Cumbria.  I explained the situation so she went for a Freedom of Information request.

This was the response:

Jennie Dennett The Westmoreland Gazette 25 Market Street, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 7LR

Our ref EWD 487 Delay      Date   20th May 2005

Dear Ms Dennett,

Thank you for your request for information about sightings of big non-native cats in the UK. Your request has been considered under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 and following careful consideration, I can now inform you that we have decided that some of the information you have requested will be disclosed and some withheld.

It may firstly be useful if I explained some of the background to the issue of big cats. There is no formal process for the recording of big non-native cat sightings. Defra’s Rural Development Service (RDS) National Wildlife Management Team does investigate claims of big cat sightings, but only in cases where there is a potential risk to livestock. Any instance where there is a potential risk to the public is a matter for the Home Office and the Police.

Any sightings reported by a member of the public to the RDS since mid-2001 have been recorded, however it is important to note that the Team covers England only. Prior to this, a member of the Team kept a personal record of sightings gleaned from newspaper cuttings, etc. This information is no longer available, but some of it was published and may be available from public libraries. I’m afraid that we do not hold copies of these two reports.:

Baker, S.J. (1990). Escaped exotic mammals in Britain. Mammal Review, 20, 75-96.

Baker, S.J. (1990). Escaped exotic mammals in Britain. Mammalaction (Newsletter of the Mammal Society Youth Group), 48, 3-4

In 1995 the (then MAFF) wildlife team conducted an investigation into reports of large exotic cats in the Bodmin area of Cornwall. A report of this investigation was published as follows:

Baker, S J and C J Wilson (1995) The evidence for the presence of large exotic cats in the Bodmin area and their possible impact on livestock. MAFF, London 16pp. No. PB2308 (available online at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/reports/Exotic-Cats.pdf) For ease I attach a copy of this report.

I am afraid that we will not release details of individual sightings as we believe that this data falls under exception 12(4)(d) of the Environmental Information Regulations in that the information is in the course of completion. We intend to publish the data we have collected in relation to the dates, numbers and summary locations of exotic sightings within the next 3 months. In making this decision we have carefully considered the public interest test and have balanced the need for disclosure against the need to withhold the data. We believe that it is reasonable for us to withhold the data whilst we collate and prepare it for publication.

However, I can inform you that since RDS began recording sightings reported by the public (circa April 2001 to 31 March 2005) there have been 28 unconfirmed big cat sightings recorded for England. None of these sightings were from Cumbria.

Defra holds no physical evidence that big non-native cats are living in the wild in Cumbria or elsewhere in the UK. Release of big cats into the wild is prohibited under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and possession of these species is regulated under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. If there is believed to be a public safety issue, for example from an escaped big cat, then this is a matter for the Police. RDS do have a record of instances of known escapes of big cats from 1977. I have attached a copy of this table for information.

I do not know whether the Central Science Laboratory or the Veterinary Laboratories Agency hold any data regarding big cats. In order for me to contact them and fully explore whether they hold such data, I regret that we must extend the time limit for responding by 20 days. I hope to let you have a response on this particular part of your enquiry by 16 June, and will keep you informed of any further delay. In the meantime I hope that you will find the attached information useful.

If you are unhappy with the way the authority has handled your request, you may ask for an internal review. Please contact  Lewis Baker, Head of Defra’s Access to Information Unit at, Area1E West block 3-8 Whitehall Place London SW1A 2HH who will arrange an internal review of your case.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Simon R Harding

Species Policy Adviser

Fax 0117 372 8182

Email simon.r.harding@defra.gsi.gov.uk

From 1977 onward (and still) I was an exotic animals advisor to UK police forces from Scotland down to Dorset. I knew that PWCOs discussed non native cats at annual meetings -as did senior police officers.  Reports were forwarded nad exchanged but then I came across a few puzzling remarks. One PWCO mentioned to another that I had collected the carcass of a dead sheep in my van to take for examination. This led to him asking me what I had found out from examining the foal and the sheep? I was stumped and so I found out but had to explain that on the day in question I was actually at the BBC Whiteladies Road, Bristol talking to two wildlife film directors and NOT in Carmarthenshire. Also, the foal was picked up in Yorkshire so it would have been a long journey. The biggest problem was that I cannot drive. Have no access to a "sizable van" with a pulley.

Then, perhaps two months later a farmer in Dyfed, Wales, phoned me and asked why I had not gotten back to him as promised? I had never heard of the man and I had him explain what had happened.  It seems that he had two sheep killed over a three day period and the leg of one was stuck up in a tree branch. He knew "through the grapevine" that farmers had been asked to take as many photographs etc of dead animals suspected of being cat kills. He told a neighbour of his losses as he was connected in some way with the National Farmers Union.  Next day a large white van pulled into his courtyard and a tall, blonde-haired man got out and introduced himself as "Terry Hooper" from the Exotic Animals Register. The farmer was "pleased as punch" that I had travelled all the way over to Wales so quickly and was as helpful as he could be showing 'me' ouncture wounds on the neck of the sheep and the marks on the leg that he had retrieved from the tree with help from his son. The farmer even helped load the sheep onto a canvas sheep and into the van and then off 'I' went promising lab results in a fewdays.

One thing that the farmer had noticed was on the passenger seat of the van as he talked to 'me' before I drove off. It was a lipboard with his name and details on it and the animal laboratory the sheep were to be taken to. He never gave it a second thought but the lab is where DEFRA would send animal carcasses for various reasons.

In total on farms in the Welsh-English border area 'I' or 'one of my colleagues' had visited five farms and collected animals up to the size of a cow. 

I was at one point, and this was shown to a certain number of people so that the reality of the document was not in question, sent a copy of a memo from a senior DEFRA person stating that at all cost any evidence of large cat kills must be collected as soon as possible "before Terry Hooper can acquire or assess it".  In fact, two farmers were asked whether they had contacted me directly (which seemed odd to them) and were told not to worry as the info would be "sent direct" to me. Really?

There was the incident when I got through to the Welsh chief veterinary officer and was talking freely about kills she had examined and then -silence. "Wait -who are you again?" she asked and I told her. There was a verbal explosion and I was told that I had no right phoning her but I explained that I had told the secretary on the phone that I was calling about cat kills.... To say that the lady was furious is an understatement. 

Then came the main event. A farmer had reported sightings of a big black cat to the local PWCO and h was concerned that it had escaped from a wildlife park (many have puma as well as black leopards) so had put a cage together to trap it.  Hewas rather shocked when he found the cat trapped so immediately phoned the PWCO and local vet -he did not want the cat left in the trap for too long. Quite quickly a small white van turned up and the person who got out was very nonchalant until he saw that the man was not joking "That is a panther!" he exclaimed and went back to the van and returned with his gear. The witness managed to get a bucket over the cat's face area due to the way the cage was built while the man injected the cat. It then went quiet. 

The witness then helped carry the cat to the van which it "just about fitted into" and once the doors were closed he asked "You'll be taking this to the wildlife park then?" and the vet (and there is absolutely no doubt that he was a vet) responded "Not really. Its dead now". The witness was furious but was told "That is our policy if we catch these animals. It's not the first".

The van drove off and the witness went indoors and phoned the PWCO and explained what had happened. The PWCO was also shocked. In fact, after this incident he refused to forward any more information on cat locations officially.  The witness was gutted but a week or so later was outside when he stood motionless as a few yards away another black cat moved out of sight. This was  too good to be true so I checked everything and I got a signed affidavit from the witness.

At this time DEFRA insisted that if someone was on the PAWS register they had to legally submit copies of all reports and evidence received and it was obvious why they wanted this; to locate and eradicate "invasive species". There was a loophole which allowed me to not forward the information (its very complex) so I completed the new PAWS agreement with the backing of two Chief Constables and a Deputy Chief Constable. Turned down. Something was not completed correctly. It was but I double checked and resubmitted. Rejected because now another section was not filled out correctly. This went on for months until one of the Chief Constables told me that DEFRA was doing everything to block me.

Interestingly, the "Big Cat enthusiasts" who signed the PAWS agreement had no concerns for the safety of the animals involved and most were quite open that if one was shot it proved their case. 

We know Raccoon dogs have been killed by DEFRA vets and other animals since the 1990s because most people have a camera and many want to post online or sell their story to the news people which helps DEFRA.

I am preparing a longer post on this matter and explaining why DEFRA needs to change its policy of eradication.

But animals are being killed and it is NOT being kept "hush hush" -its just not being reported on.