Common Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)
Photo Credit: mithunhphotography. Location: Kabini Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka. Country: India
Sunday 22 October 2023
Friday 20 October 2023
British 'Big Cat' Social Groups -pure Ignorance and Toxicity
Someone asked on a Big Cat group on Face Book whether the Victorians who went off travelling the world brought back various cat cubs but as they got older and bigger dumped them.
I politely responded that there is no information suggesting that and that these cats were available to buy in the UK without world travel expenses.
Another person stated that the "current theory" is that lynx never died out in the UK.
I politely pointed them in the direction of my paper on lynx in the UK.
Responses:
*Terry Hooper and what is your conclusion as this is your book?
We have proof of people admitting to letting them go…
*Terry Hooper there has been multiple people that have admitted to releasing big cats, following the DWA. There is also a video, recently posted on here, about a man that runs a big cat sanctuary in the UK, who has a puma that was dumped on his doorstep and speaks of people - now a days- dumping their big cats when they can’t handle them.
Where do you get the info to the contrary?
"Terry Hooper thats where ur wrong. the chipperfield circus released some
Well, I tried to be polite since these and others obviously did not understand or were unable to read my post:
""Nope. A lot of misconceptions here and if I tell the conclusions of my work then no point selling it.
"I dealt in far more detail with UK exotic cats in The Red Paper Felids. I have spent 1976 up to present studying and researching these cats and from 1977 on I was a UK police forces exotic wildlife advisor and still do that from time to time.
The sightings did not start with the DWAA 1976 and as a naturalist I know the various cats are out there but its pointless arguing the point if people 'know everything'.
I have bones from kills examined by experts at universities and all the photographic evidence, pawprints I need.
Just do some research and do not conclude that I am wrong until you have read my published research is all I am asking."
The problem is, as I say, these groups tend to be toxic and had I said they were all correct I would have been piled on by others who disagree. My papers and books are out there for them to read. Fact and fully referenced with material and reports never before seen. None of the cryptozoological fantasy-to-make-money or "cryptid" rubbish. Facts. And that makes me a debunker (an insulting remark to any professional) because I haver proven various formerly exotic cats are in the UK?
These people need to stop reading Fortean Times or the silly cryptozoology books that are non factual. However, those reinforce the opinions of the fans and so do the podcasts and the obviously faked reports that keep popping up on these groups.
For that reason I will keep to posting on my own EAR Face Book groupo and here. Hoipefully some educated people will learn.
Wednesday 18 October 2023
A Very Blurry Cat Video and HOW Can A Lab State "99% likely Black Panther"?
Another recent 'big cat' image had me rolling my eyes yet again (I must stop doing that as it hurts). With UFOs the remarks are always "Why is the photo never clear?" and in cryptozoology there is the same problem -with "bigfoot" photos the blurry could-be-anything photos are known as "blob squatches".
And we have the same with 'big cat' videos and photos as I have noted before.
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/big-cat-makes-van-driver-8838607
'Big cat' makes van driver slam on brakes - 'it was jet black and massive'
Another week another sighting of a 'big cat' prowling through the UK countryside - this time in Wales. Pictures show what looks like a black panther walking up a hill in the Colwyn Bay area.
The person who captured the video of the large dark shape says they are "sure" it's a black panther. Rumours that big cats roam the British countryside have been around for years. with many sightings in Gloucestershire.
The witness, who does not want to be named, said: "It's such a privilege seeing an animal like that. I'm still over the moon about it."
"It was very exciting watching it. People have been talking about seeing it, then I was just driving my van and I spotted it. I just slammed on the brakes.
"Everyone who has seen the video is very sure it's a black panther. It's jet black and massive, with a huge tail - and it's moving as cats do.
"Apparently some black panthers were let loose in Wales in the 1970s and some pairs have bread. I don't think they're a risk. I hike around here all the time.
"They are very solitary animals and wouldn't go near us unless they really had to." The video was shot on Sunday (October 15) at 8am.
The introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 saw a number of big cats previously held as pets released into the wild, according to reports. It is suggested some were released into the Welsh countryside.
Recent DNA from a black hair sample, snagged on a fence at a Gloucestershire farm, was found to have 99 per cent chance it was a black leopard.. The creatures also hit the headlines when presenter Clare Balding spotted a mysterious animal in the Wye Valley while she was recording a BBC Radio 4 episode.
During audio shared on TikTok from the moment, she says: "It's disappeared completely hasn't it, it's gone off into the woods and disappeared. I should point out that I never knew that there were stories of a big black cat, so when I saw it I didn't even say to you 'look', I just thought 'Oh look'.
Even on the actual video clip the image is not much clearer and although it looks like it might be a cat it could also be a dog but evidence wise the clip proves nothing and I am always wary of Tik Tok videos. The pro 'big cat' people have stated that the cat "is massive" because ancient human survival instincts are such that they can spot danger and gauge size. Hmm. So why are so many drivers crashing into cars in daylight and only a few feet away from them?7
https://www.tiktok.com/@independent/video/7291226606989757729
The desperation to get a "genuine big cat" leads to many claims about what an image or clip contains. In this case not much of value but it is still being declared a genuine 'big cat'. I did laugh at one point in the article: the DWAA 1976 as the catalyst that sparked off all of the modern 'big cat' sightings is inaccurate. Some cats and other species may have been released but I threw out that explanation in the mid 1990s when research showed the extensive history, importation, etc of exotic species including puma, leopards, lynx and so on.
This shows the outdated books used as references by many in this field -Di Francis was inaccurate and spouted so many inaccuracies that today's enthusiasts accept as fact. Janet and Colin Bord and their Alien Animals is also referred to and that contained less than accurate information. Other works tend to be authors (even certain "noted" ones) simply doing a copy and paste job and whether "mystery cats" or other "cryptids" most have never even carried out basic research or even gone to the original sources. I do.
Now, also back in the 1990s we had a close (10ft/3m) sightings of a panther that was sleeping in an enclosed space but after hissing at the witness escaped through another exit. The police were obviously involved and a black hair was found and sent for DNA testing. The results were without question Panthera pardus -leopard. So to read that a hair snagged on a fence was supposedly DNA tested and found to "have 99% chance it was a black leopard" makes me ask where the DNA test report is and which lab carried out the testing?
There is a massive data base that scientists consult if in any doubt so a hair should come back as "Result -Panthera pardus" and most labs provide other data. "99% chance it was a black panther" is not a scientific statement but sounds more like a guess work conclusion. WHO tested the hair?
All of this shows why zoologists and naturalists (who zoologists generally rely on to do all the dirty work) do not take the subject seriously (publicly). I have spoken to many naturalists from ornithologists, mammalogists, etc who while out doing field work observed these cats at close quarters (10ft -100yards -3m-100m). You would be surprised who and what bodies accept that these animals are out there but just do not get embroiled in the whole "British Big Cat" farce.
More British 'Big Cat' Photographs
This one is currently doing the rounds on the fringe internet groups. So let's look at the photograph and back story shall we?
And before anyone thinks "Not much to that account" I can tell you that for every good, detailed and close proximity sighting you get there are 50 of these. So is it a black panther as claimed by many or a black puma?
Here is an enlargement of the photograph.
The counter-argument is that the length of the grass shows it to be large. This is possibly the biggest nonsense to come from 'big cat' enthusiasts who desperately want a photo of a leopard or puma. We have those already but no one expects the fan fringe to know that based on what they declare to be their reading material. In the last week I have seen blurry images that could be anything described as a cheetah (we have never had cheetah reports in the UK other than the rare escapee re-captured)...oh, and a lynx discussed as "a big cat" species.
So this is just another domestic cat photo.
Then we have this:
Then we have this:
"...the latest sighting, someone has claimed to have seen what they describe as a 'black panther' in a Somerset cemetery. But closer examination of Malcolm Foster's image would tend to suggest it is a small black cat."
It is very clearly a small domestic cat so the question is why would a news outlet use it for another 'big cat' story? Well, it provides content even if it does make those who took the photo look like idiots. And, as we know, 'big cat' stories are "sexy news" and always draws attention.
There are good clips and photos out there and it is only a matter of time before someone gets a much clearer image and we need more of those since we have all the real evidence needed (see The Red Paper Felids) but to add more photographic and video material to these new native species would be good.
Wednesday 11 October 2023
Tuesday 10 October 2023
The Raccoon Dog In The UK -A Threat or Filling A Vacant Predator Niche?
The one thing that keeps cropping up, and from my own Exotic Animal Register records from the 1980s on are raccoon dogs
In the past people reporting raccoon dogs have witnessed them being shot or trapped and killed on DEFRA orders -ignoring wildlife parks, etc that were willing to take them on. Back in the early 2000s a lo0cal DEFRA man threatened to have me prosecuted for not turning over maps with locations of raccoon dogs. Nothing happened and besides which all the locations are in my head for safety reasons.
I have been keeping an eye on these animals, as I do with any former "exotic" or so called "invasive species" in the UK since the early 1980s after seeing two in the wild in Germany in the 1970s. My main questions are:
1) is the animal causing loss of local wildlife?
2) is the animal causing any environmental or other damage?
In the case of raccoon dogs I can state that they have caused no widespread problems to British wildlife -there are millions of rats and rabbits in the UK as well as smaller mammals that humans shoot, poison, trap and kill as "nuisances" and from talking to locals who know the areas where these animals are they have cut back the rodent population but not in any drastic way. I have been told that nothing in the areas where they are has changed and if it were not for the occasional sighting no one would know that they were there. In fact one response has been "There are far, far fewer rats these days".
Now, if after four decades of looking at these animals I saw that they were having an adverse effect on the environment I would be all for trapping and them spending a life in an appropriate wildlife centre. Killing is never an option unless you are DEFRA and want to waste public money by paying out a couple of thousand to someone to trap and kill.
So many key species have been wiped out by humans in the UK over the centuries for 'sport' and 'fun' that there are niches that need to be filled. We killed off the wolves and lynx and wild cats and we have had animals such as the raccoon dog fill those niches. After the mass of extinctions in the 19th century the prey-predator ratio was all in the favour of prey and their growing in numbers. Hence the craze for poisons and trapping.
Could all of the raccoon dogs in the wild be killed off? Doubtful. First you have to find them and locals tend to keep quiet. Awareness of raccoon dogs and how to behave in areas where they might be is important -as is most wildlife education.
Above: young raccoon dog for sale in Kent in 2011 (c)2023 EAR
Although they hide it well and communicate by secure apps on mobile phones we know people do breed and sell on. If they were not doing so then the RSZPCA must be rescuing imaginary animals.
This RSPCA page explains what you need to know.
Keeping raccoon dogs as pets
On this page, we answer all your questions about raccoon dogs - what they are, what they eat and whether they can be kept as pets.
Selling raccoon dogs in the UK
Since 2 February 2019, it's been illegal to sell raccoon dogs (except for existing 'stock'), as they're a highly invasive risk to native species in Europe. These regulations also don't allow breeding and require raccoon dogs to be kept securely. Read more about the legal restrictions for keeping raccoon dogs and other invasive alien species.
Not a raccoon
Raccoon dogs (also known as a 'tanuki' or a Japanese raccoon dog) aren't raccoons - they're members of the canid (dog) family. They're native to the forests of eastern Siberia, northern China, North Vietnam, Korea and Japan. They're now widespread in some European countries, having been accidentally released or escaped.
Diet
Raccoon dogs are omnivores and naturally feed on insects, rodents, amphibians, birds, fish, molluscs and carrion, as well as fruits, nuts and berries.
Pet suitability
A raccoon dog isn't suitable as pet as their needs simply can't be met in a typical household. We strongly discourage people from buying or keeping one as a pet.
This is because:
- They're much more difficult to look after than you may imagine!
- There are strict legal restrictions on keeping, selling, rehoming and breeding raccoon dogs, as they threaten our native wildlife.
- They need space - raccoon dogs are wild animals rather than domesticated pets. In the wild, they have large home ranges, so it wouldn't be suitable to keep one in an enclosure that doesn't provide the space and complexity of the environment (water, hiding places, vegetation) they need.
- They're extremely smelly, as they use scent to communicate with one another - not the best quality in a house pet!
Sadly, it's not uncommon to see raccoon dogs kept in a house, a small enclosure in a garden or a small enclosure in a pet shop. These are all environments that are totally unsuitable for a raccoon dog's complex needs.
Rescued raccoon dogs
Our inspectors have taken in raccoon dogs that were no longer wanted as pets by their owners. This can be the result of the raccoon dog becoming unmanageable, or when owners realise that they cannot care for the animal properly.
We've attended properties where raccoon dogs have been kept in enclosures that are far too small. We've found raccoon dogs kept on their own, or with the family dog - none of which is appropriate for this particular species.
Our team has also been called to capture and collect stray raccoon dogs that have escaped, or been deliberately released into the wild. Releasing, or allowing a raccoon dog to escape is a punishable offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Studies have suggested that raccoon dogs in the wild may live and hunt in pairs or small family groups, although solitary animals have also been seen. We rehome raccoon dogs to wildlife parks and zoos, in pairs or compatible groups.
If you've seen a raccoon dog that's been abandoned, or are concerned about the well-being of a raccoon dog being kept as a pet, please contact us.
Monday 9 October 2023
A Civet Is NOT A Big Cat
The question asked on a big cat group was whether a civet counted as a big cat or not? I am now going to start banging my head on the wall.
North Weald, Essex.
A civet is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species's diversity is found in southeast Asia.
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The problem is that we seemed to be getting a grip of the exotics trade back in the early 2000s but then regulations were scrapped and now we have people breeding meerkats, porcupines, raccoons and raccoon dogs amongst many. Much of the trade is slightly dodgy as noted before.
Cages and property should always be secure and often people buy thinking it will all be easy. Put some food in, clean the cage....but animals are not dumb and if they see a chance to escape they are gone. Sadly, as with a lemur shot by a farmer in the 1990s ("it looked odd") humans eventually kill escapes with guns or cars.
A "Pumapard"....excuse me as I choke with laughter
Again this documentary. Firstly, any name they want to give a wild cat has to be officially approved by a zoological committee. So the idea that they are the first (insulting) to have 'discovered' these cats and that they can call it what they want is bovine excretia.
The fact that a leopard and puma breed in captivity is down to a complicated hit-and-miss process overseen by humans. That there is a population o0f these cats in the UK is a pure fantasy and is based on no factual evidence. I began the work in 1977 and have never come across any such evidence -it is a silly fringe theory. Maybe the expert in horse (equine) science has an interest in wild cats but pushing the idea is not credible.
The photograph of the cat in Kent is grainy. Pity they gave no details of the back story. If you enlarge the photo it does show the ears end in a point and are not rounded. The graininess of the photo is such that it makes it impossible to identify the breed of cat and if you look at the size of the cat and the sheep (the photo is that bad a quality that it took some working out) in the background it is not that large and the one sheep seems to be more curious about the cat and/or whoever was photographing it.
The head shape, body and tail look like a domestic breed and there are many breeds not to mention the exotic domestic cats and the "Heinz 57" variety -the equivalent of a "mongrel dog". Yes, I have seen domestic cats with necks like that.
The more I hear about this documentary the more I realise that I can give it a miss -the fact that they still promote (proven by myself and a university team in the 1990s) the "released into the wild" theory shows how out of touch their research is. The 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act was not the starting point. I speculated, and others picked up on this, that releases prior to World War One over fears of food shortages and ditto World War Two might account for the cats seen today; generations along. However, I disproved my own theory and accumulated reports going back centuries and there are reports from just the 1840s (very accurate descriptions but the animal was called "the spirit of a deceased person").
Buy a copy of The Red Paper 2022 Vol. II Felids and get a proper education on the subject.
Oh, and that cat photograph has some strange artefacting in it which makes me wonder just how genuine it is.
Maybe the reporter or the documentary makers should have checked Wikipedia?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumapard
Experts say 'big cat' spotted stalking the British countryside could be a rare cross between a leopard and a puma
Is it a puma? Is it a leopard? Whatever it is, filmmakers have uncovered an image of a 'big cat' stalking the British countryside.
The large feline was snapped in Kent and its neck muscle, ear shape and tail is not that of a domestic breed, experts claim.
It is thought it could be latest evidence of big cats in Britain and could be a rare dwarf breed known as a 'pumapard'.
They are a cross between a leopard and a puma or cougar – and have previously been born in captivity.
Both male cougar with female leopard and male leopard with female cougar pairings have produced offspring.
The photo, taken in 2013, has been unearthed by makers of the new documentary Panthera Britannia Declassified.
It has the experts split, with several claiming it shows something different to your typical pet moggy.
Andrew Hemmings, associate professor of Equine Science at Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, said its dimensions suggest it is not a domestic cat.
He said: 'The developed neck musculature and curvature of the tail both suggest something other than Felis Catus.
'Scaling is difficult but this does not appear to be of adult leopard size.
'It is, however, entirely plausible that populations of leopard-sized felids could have become smaller over multiple generations, maybe in response to natural genetic selection imposed by a prey-base of smaller animals such as rabbits.
'It would make good evolutionary sense to adapt to a plentiful, low risk species such as the rabbit.'
One theory of how big cats arrived in the UK is the unregulated exotic pet trade of the last days of the British Empire.
Leopards were imported from Africa and Asia and pumas or cougars from the Americas.
Experts believe both species were released into our countryside.
Appearing in the documentary expert animal tracker Rhoda Watkins, speculates that this could possibly be a 'pumapard'.
Sarah Hartwell, owner of website The MessyBeast, said: 'The puma and leopard hybrids were smaller than either parent, but most seemed to have died as juveniles so we don't know their final size.
'The ear shape is the big giveaway. Big cats all have rounded ears.
'Domestics, and their relatives in the Lybica family, have triangular ears – wide at the base and narrowing at the tip.'
Monster hunter James 'Bobo' Fay agrees with Professor Hemmings.
He said: 'I've seen four mountain lions in the past month; I see them all the time in California.
'It possesses characteristics associated with the North American cougar. It's definitely not a bobcat.
'The tail looks cougar-like to me and it seems more muscular than a domestic cat, but my overall impression is that I'm looking at a large domestic dominant hybrid.'
Big cat researcher Kevin Steele runs the Real Big Cats In Kent Facebook group.
He said: 'There have been numerous sightings of big cats in Kent now over several decades.
'I know the location where the photo was taken and sightings are reported from that area quite often.'
Panthera Britannia Declassified by Dragonfly Films is available to buy and rent on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Google TV.
Friday 6 October 2023
Black Panthers and Black Pumas and the Scientific Dogma
Every time I hear some 'expert' (X =The Unknown and spurt is a drip under pressure) either a zoologist or cryptozoologist stating that black pumas are "impossible" or that they are so rare that one has never been presented to science I roll my eyes. People who see these animals rarely have a firearm and most are awe struck by the sight (maybe also a little scared). They do not think "If I killed that science would have an animal to dissect" and after 50 years experience I can guarantee this: presented with a dead black puma the experts involved would still say "Well, it is a rarity and probably a one off" so you would prove nothing about the existence of a black puma.
It does not matter the status of the person reporting a black puma they will still be called liars or mistaken-the experts can be pigs. Polite pigs but pigs all the same (I know feel that I have insulted pigs). For example, a biologist who taught at night school refused to accept that a senior zoologist with an international reputation who had also work on pumas had actually seen a black puma in good conditions and within a few yards of his car. He even got out and took measurements of the road barrier etc to estimate size and "I looked at each of its diagnostic features and there is no doubt that it was a black puma; had it been a black leopard I would not have left the car to walk around". But, no, the biologist stated that the man had seen a black leopard but would not talk to the zoologist personally. He knew that he was wrong but he wanted to keep dogma going and knew that a much senior expert would tear him to shreds.
If you look at the amount of technical information on pumas you will find that there is absolutely no scientific reason why a puma cannot be black. To say a puma cannot be is absolute nonsense based on dogma and stupidity through lack of research. "If they do occur then it would be in South America" is the other response. Yes. Well, there were very many species imported from both North , Central and South America and amongst them were black puma. Not jaguars that were clearly identified in the same accounts but melanistic pumas.
Black jaguars and pumas as well as leopards were what showmen and the travelling menageries wanted. A story could be spun around them for the punters spending their cash to see the animal that encountered in the night you would never know was there until your lantern caught the flash of its eyes or the white of its teeth by which time it was too late! It was all about show.
Also, do not think that certain 'sportsmen' would not release a puma, leopard or lynx for a "bit of sport" -they released jackals, wolves and coyotes for just such a thing.
We then come to the equally dumb (I make no apologies as by now I am beyond being polite to idiocy based on dogma passed off as knowledge) "Why black leopards (panthers) -they arfe rare so to have so many reported is ludicrous". Firstly, we have accounts going back hundreds of years of black leopards escaping, being killed or even in one case a black leopard (one of a pair) killing a pub worker who kept entering its cage to abuse it. We have newspapers reporting on a "fine pair of black panthers imported" and so on and so forth.
Ask yourself why zoos and wildlife parks have the same cats in their collections -lynx, 'wild cats' (the wild tabby), puma and leopards. Without fail the leopards are all black and when I first realised this while carrying out research I realised that black leopards are not "very rare". They are found in Africa and India. Back in the 1990s there was a video clip of a black leopard released for a "canned" hunt -the cowards were such incompetents that they shot and killed it on the spot before it was even away from the vehicles cage.
Also in the late 1990s someone misunderstood my work and I was contacted by someone from the Indian Embassy of all places who told me that so long as I had the facilities to hold them in a pair of black leopards could be supplied to me for £160 -transport was covered by them. I had my doubts but the RSPCA, Born Free organisation and even police were aware of this trafficking -all covered by official documentation.
Black leopard breeding with black leopard does not necessarily mean the offspring will be black and we have had in the UK at least two "regular coloured" leopard sightings. Oh, I still have the affidavit (see The Red Paper Felids) of the black panther put down on a man's property by a MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food) vet in the late 1990s -days later a second panther was sighted.
According to Indian government sources: There are only 2,000 black leopards in the wild with most found in Southeast Asia where tropical forests offer an abundance of shade.
Yes, "only" 2000 black leopards in the wild in India. I would say that 2000 is pretty much a declaration of not being that "extremely rare"?
According to a BBC news item: "Lurking in the forests of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares is a surprise - a black panther, a rarely glimpsed version of the leopard. Though spotted leopards are seen across the continent, these beautiful black versions seem only to arise on the mountains of the Great Rift."
Above: an African black leopard (c)2023 BBC
There are a lot of black leopards. There are black puma. But we are not talking about a huge population wild in the UK. I have discussed possible population numbers before
You need to ask the witness to concentrate on not just the colour but ears, head and muzzle shape, the tail and more. Interestingly enough a very well known shepherd in Wales who spent time on the mountains with the huge flock he looked after had no concerns that once a month or so a sheep was taken as it was a natural loss "and the poor cat has to eat to survive and it's not its fault it is stuck out here". So I asked for a description as he had seen two cats separately and together. Good and accurate description of a puma and he had seen then from at least 100 yards more than once. "Both the same but one chunkier and black" he said. I sat up as I actually thought these were pet releases -a puma and a black leopard because I had dogma shoved into my brain when I was younger. More questioning and I was stumped; exactly the same type of cat with the same diagnostic features.
I mentioned this to others and they laughed but the observer was an ex military man and very observant and had seen these cats often. This all pushed me into looking at puma melanism. And within a couple of weeks I realised the lie of "no black pumas" and at the time I was in touch with a man running a top DNA lab and he had a very good reputation so I asked about the puma melanism and he checked while we were on the phone. He told me that "There is no reason you cannot have a black puma" he said and added more about wild cats and DNA.
So, when you hear or read the idiots spreading dogma remember they have carried out no research but basing everything on proven dogma.
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