Did Royal Marines Shoot The Beast Of Exmoor?

caption: Rumours of "the Beast of Exmoor", a big cat said to stalk the fields of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset, date back to the 1970s. In 1983, the government took the unusual step of sending Royal Marine snipers into the area, after a spate of sightings and livestock killings. Picture: Keith Waldegrave / Associated Newspapers /Rex Features CREDIT: Keith Waldegrave / Associated Newspapers /Rex Features

Here is the problem I have with this account.

The Marines were not issued with live rounds due to the fact that if they missed a shot the power of the weapon would send a shell flying and there was the risk of hitting a farm house or one of the farmers out at night.I was told this by two Marines who were involved and Officer in Charge and the Ministry of Defence also confirmed that live rounds were not issued for use on Home territory. This actually enraged one farmer -Rosemary Rhodes- who asked me "What bloody good are they if they cannot shoot the thing?"

I spoke to two of the Marines involved in the Beast of Exmoor 'search' in the 1990s (neither knew I had been in contact with the other) and both had sightings of a large black cat AFTER leaving the service (those accounts are both recorded) but no one in their group, they told me, had sighted a big cat up close.

The account states that a police sergeant arranged for the Royal Marines to pop up to Exmoor. Where to start? Firstly; a police sergeant has absolutely no authority to call in any military unit let alone an elite one such as the Royal Marine Commandoes. Members of Parliament with farming constituents faced pressure and they asked governments ministers and added to the press and media circus at the time. It was becoming embarrassing. It was then decided politically to send in a detachment of the RMCs as a "placation" exercise; the let farmers realise that their complaints 'were' being taken seriously and to stop armed groups out at night that (according to rumour) had created problems.

The RMC were there on nightly patrol and everyone was safe -that was what the press and media were to report. Here is the thing: "He let rip with his rifle and the whole valley seemed to light up'" -no live ammo and according to the Marines I spoke to they never even caught a glimpse of a large cat. Add to that this fact; not one of the farmers in the area where the RMC were positioned and to whom I spoke at the time ever reported any gunfire. In fact the consensus was that the Marines spent the nights napping. I think that in that area gunfire that lit up the whole valley would have been noticed by someone.

Where does that leave this account? You can decide but as it comes from a documentary already infamous for inaccuracies I am just presenting the facts I know as I was given them by people involved.

Dr Todd Disotell is a noted researcher but not on large cats and especially not on such cats in the UK which many Americans (even educated ones) seem to think is a tiny piece of land with only a few trees. Disotell is incorrect in assumptions he makes.

Tense moment Royal Marine marksman tries to hunt down Beast of Exmoor: Dramatic face-off with big cat is reenacted in documentary exploring UK's fascination with large animal sightings - with some reports as far back as Henry VIII's reign

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12412217/Tense-moment-Royal-Marine-marksman-tries-hunt-Beast-Exmoor-Dramatic-face-big-cat-reenacted-documentary-exploring-UKs-fascination-large-animal-sightings-reports-far-Henry-VIIIs-reign.html

A new documentary has been released on Amazon Prime exploring the history of big cat sightings in the UK, including the notorious Beast of Exmoor.

Panthera Britannia: De-classified, produced by Dragonfly Films, follows the public's enduring fascination at the thought of big cats prowling Britain's woodland.

Beyond the myths of Celtic Britain, reported sightings of big cats stretch as far back as King Henry VIII's reign.

More recent alleged encounters including a photo of a large muscular black cat lying in long grass in Smallthorne, Staffordshire, and the 'wildcat of Woodchester' near Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 2009.

But perhaps the most notorious 'big cat' of all is the Beast of Exmoor, a predator said to have wreaked havoc in the southwest of England.

Things came to a head during the spring of 1983, when dozens of sheep were savaged in Devon and Somerset.

Speaking in the documentary, Eric Lay, of Drewestone Farm, Devon, close to Exmoor National Park, revealed he lost more than 50 sheep during the killings.

He said: 'It was in early March 1983, when I started having lambs go missing. That progressed on to big lambs, full-grown ewes and then there were local people who were seeing a big black cat.

'You would just get the spine of the animal left and their ribs would be cleaned out, like they'd been cleaned out with a butcher's knife.'

By the following month, a local police sergeant had arranged for a group of marines to travel up from their base in Plymouth to kill the animal

mong those deployed was John Holden, a young marine in his early 20s, whose unit was tasked with ridding locals of the Beast of Exmoor.

Mr Holden said: 'By the time we got there, over 100 full-grown ewes had been killed and slaughtered.

'Something that powerful had to be bigger than the average sheepdog. You had to really appreciate that for something like that to happen, whatever it was, it was quite a formidable beast.'

Mr Holden said the group set up an observation post overlooking a lonely valley, criss-crossed by a disused railway and a river.

A rifle instructor then caught sight of a big black cat in crouch position apparently stalking a rabbit.

Mr Holden said: 'All I could hear [the instructor] sayin was, "I can see something". He let rip with his rifle and the whole valley seemed to light up.'

The troupe felt sure they had caught the animal, although no body was ever found. For a few years afterwards, the farmers of Devon enjoyed a period of relative peace. 

Mr Lay said: 'From that moment on, I never had anymore problems.'

Large cats were last known to roam the UK during the Late Pleistocene era, between 129,000 and 11,700 years ago

Small numbers of big cats were thought to have been brought over by the Romans, who kept them in menageries, an earlier form of a zoo.

Menageries appeared again in royal courts during the medieval period, while King Henry VII stocked a large and exotic menagerie inside the walls of the Tower of London.

Researchers remain divided over the likelihood of big cats living in the wild in the UK and if so, whether these are animals which have escaped from captivity, or descendants of the big cats of the Pleistocene era. 

Dr Todd Disotell, biological anthropologist at the University of Massachusetts, says: 'Some people have suggested that the sightings of large felids in the united Kingdom are the result of the remnants of ancient population from the later Pleistocine.

'I think it's extremely unlikely that animals could survive that long. They would have to have a significantly large population to maintain enough genetic diversity so I don't think it's possible to have something last that long in a country as dense as Britain.'

But even if the felines are descended from more recent arrivals, some experts think the numerous sightings are more than just tall stories. 

However, animal behaviour expert Dr Isla Fishburn, who tracked evidence of wild cats in the UK, says she believes there 'compelling' evidence to suggest big cats have found a place in Britain.

'When it comes to looking at the prey of what these big cats may eat, we've got a vast collection of species that are possible - mice, rabbits, hares, smaller mammals and also an incredible deer population.'