"I have the clearest photo of a UK big cat!"

If you go to the EAR Face Book page you may see a comment I made regarding alleged "big cat" photographs from the UK.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/372804871017547 

In over 46 years of looking at "exotics" in the UK the biggest pain has been alleged photos of "big cats". I have been sent photos of a lioness crossing a road (actually in a wildlife park not near a village); a puma photographed looking down on a town from hills (taken at night as it hid the fact that a stuffed toy was used) and the number of "Blob cats" where an image is so blurry, taken from a distance and enlarged so much that the pixels break up I can count in the twenties.

What I always ignore are the claims of "I don't think it's anywhere as good as my photo" when someone posts their photo. "Can we see your photo?" response: "No" and if you question them on why they bother telling you they have "the best" cat photo if they are not going to share it as evidence you always get the "It's because of rudeness like this that I don't publish!" End of story.

Whether these are people just looking for attention or people who do it because it gives them a kick I have no idea. I do not care. They get labelled as potential hoaxers. Why would yo0u not want to have your photo (even privately) verified as being genuine and of an "exotic" cat species?

The response they give actually is meant to deflect from them. Suddenly YOU are the rude person (I am never rude to a potential observer) and all the bad vibes are on you and others are meant to think "He's screwed it up for all of us" while "the poor woman/man was only telling us they had a good photo!" It's how the con works -reflected guilt.

I also get the "A friend of mine who doesn't want to be named has a great, clear photo of a *take your pick) puma/panther/lynx" and when you ask them if they can ask their friend to share it, even privately, there are always excuses. I make it very clear that this type of report is ignored as "someone says someone nameless has a photo" is pure bunk and =never counts as evidence so will not even be logged.

Just checking and since 1977 I have had 25 claims of having "a perfectly clear photo" of a puma or panther. Not one single person claiming this has ever produced the photo in the last 40 years.  Conclusion: hoax