Along with some of my contemporary fellow naturalists in the 1970s I set up guidelines on how to observe, track and record "non native" cats in the UK. By 1980 I ad established the procedure to investigate cases and gather evidence -specifically of large cat species since other species such as wallabies were known and in their case it was merely an exercise in update where and when and offering advice when required.
Foal skull bearing teeth marks identified as "large felid" (c)2022 EAR/T Hooper-Scharf
Even UK police forces for whom I acted as an advisor of large cats adopted many of the procedures. The most important one being to not draw lots of press attention that would create a panic or get the hunting groups blasting away at anything in the dark in the hopes of a "big game kill" -those people/groupos existed and were often reckless and carrying out illegal activities of which trespass was the mildest.
The EAR Bulleti had a wide distribution amongst police forces and other bodies.
Yes, we got evidence in the shape of scat, kills, DNA and even through forensic study of the bones of prey animals. A report of a large cat if reported by phone or letter would result in a series of questions that could last an hour and would establish the credibility of the observer/report -this is why hoaxers were spotted quickly.
puma droppings (c)2022 EAR/T. Hooper-Scharf
We had plans to trap a certain cat, take samples and fit a radio collar so that it could be tracked in the countryside. However, the team involved had a sneak who informed the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) -the predecessor of DEFRA- of our plans and it was made clear that if we trapped a puma we had no choice but to kill it or put it in a zoo (all of which were full at the time).
Index card entries (c) EAR/T Hooper-Scharf
Everything was logged and then marked on maps that gave an overall picture of territories, flora and fauna inthe area as well as possible habitats. All backed up by index cards because the internet was not around and when it was it was both unreliable and unsafe to store confidential reports on. Even today no reports are put online and nothing that might identify a witness.
(c)2022 EAR/T. Hooper-Scharf
Three times I was offered fairly large amounts of money by two national newspapers for copies of my maps -and that money would have been very welcome, however, I knew (from an inside source) that the intention was to pay someone to use my maps to try to find and kill a "big cat".
From the 1980s onward British newspapers as well as radio and TV described me as "Britain's Big Cat Detective" and that, embarrassingly, stuck.
We KNOW that there is only one member of the Big Cat family in the UK and despite the word "big" it is not full German shepherd or even lion-sized. Enough info is posted on this site for those interested in facts. The other cat is a member of the medium sized cats -the puma. So people calling themselves "Big Cat experts" is silly in the extreme.
The whole reason that we KNOW there were black pumas in the UK is for two reasons; one is that a senior lecturer in zoology that had dealt with pumas encountered on under very good conditions and only about 100 yards away from him. He noted every diagnostic feature. As he put it "I knew it was a puma. If I had seen a leopard I would not have gotten out of my car to take all the road measurements to estimate size etc". Also those long list of questions in which people reported "pumas" but gave excellent descriptions of a black leopard and these were VERY close to. Or someone who saw a "leopard" but gave a perfect description of a puma and in some cases the cats were "almost charcoal grey" or "black" and no rosette patterns were seen.
Now someone photographs a black smudge in a field a half mile away and it is classed as "a big cat". What is clearly a dog in a photograph is called a "big cat" and there is even photographic and video evidence of "big black cats" that are in fact of black foxes. There is currently no credibility amongst the UK "big cat" community (when they are not name calling or trolling each other their lack of any knowledge on wildlife and cats in particular is explosively clear).
"We are protecting our community -and we have the combat fatigues to prove it"
The standards and rules were set back in the 1970s and early 1980s and they have not mattered for years as getting your name in print or being on local radio or TV as a "public servant" is far more important. Looking at what has come out in just the last five years (excluding the people in Devon trying to hoax me) I think DEFRA are safe in claiming (falsely) "There is no Big Cat in the UK"
"Why do people never observe regular coloured leopards?" They do and I think I have two such reports that came from independent sources but were never published.
"Why does no one ever see any young?" They do. Of puma mainly and one pair of pumas had seperate well defined territories and we know which killed what as they both ate from different parts of the kill. Young were spotted and we know their kills as they were messy -their mother had not trained them well at all.
We also, going back to the 1970s have a very good report -I spoke to the lady- where a puma was spotted close to the family car along with a smaller"sphinc like spotted cat". The woman HAD seen the puma at Chester Zoo but had never seen a puma cub -which is what she described in detail. Now, unless this was an "immaculate conception" you work it out!
An estate owner told me how he and his game keeper heard "the most frightful sounds" one night and decided to investigate. As they got closer to the source of the sound they peeked over a fence and there were "two huge cats -a grey one and a black one ...and they were not fighting!" Both men knew the cats were on the estate and in fact had no problem with them and I had to give a solemn promise never to tell anyone the location. The descriptions were of puma. In fact I have similar reports of 'fights' over the years.
Trying to guess or estimate a population is sheer guessology and if 10% accurate I would be shocked. "At least 50 in thecounty" and "A few thousand nationally" are nonsemnsical and whoever gives out such a statement needs to be ignored. Firstly, yes, we know some females have set territories they are comfortable in and in some they are protected. However, treks of 30-40 miles takes them in and out of counties.
There are 27 counties across the UK so let's suppose there are 10 cats in each as some claim that is 270 nationally. Now that figure of cats nationally of one species I have no problem with but spread out and not 10 per county. The pair of pumas noted earlier that we know the territory for had a wide area that took them in and out of the county and the male had a massive area he covered so I might guess -guess- a hundred nationally? The same would apply to panthers but bccause we are just guessing I would be more inclined to guess under 100 nationally.
(c) 2022 respective copyright owner
I know , as I have the affidavits, (and DEFRA knows I know which is why they blocked any cooperation with me officially) that some cats are trapped, killed (despite there being wildlife parks and zoos that are willing to take them in -think of the money to be made with a genuine "British Big Cat" in your zoo) and then shipped off to autopsy and incinerate. There are former "exotic" cats of smaller breeds and even the "Hooper Cat" (a name coined by Police Wildlife Officers at the time) that are mistaken for pumas or panthers despite being smaller.
High zoom enlargement - pixelisation and 'spots' on the cat. In this case a dog both in shape and movement (c)2022 respective copyright owner
We also have a history of cat and other "exotic" reports and incidents going back centuries and some of these are unknown to today's "experts" as their research comes from You Tube videos and some very dubious books and online data.
There are millions of deer in the UK of various species and we know they are taken by the larger cats and in one area muntjac seemed to be the favourite. Fed up of deer? Millions of rabbits. Wild fowl -you name it and sheep are not top of the menu.
I still get the occasional police contact (not having broken a confidence in decades helps seal my credibility) so I know there are still cats roaming.
Do you have evidence of a large cat in the UK or cat kills? A sighting? Then contact me at blacktowercg@hotmail.com or via the EAR Face Book group
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