Considering the evidence offered this was a very slim paper (16 pages and a lot of that were photos and a map) and was very selective in the 'evidence' it chose. It was also very badly funded and I spoke to a person (NOT identifying them in any way as it could still get them intro trouble) involved who stated that the "investigation" was mainly indoors with the exception of a few photographs taken at sighting locations.
"It was not to prove that big cats were there but assess material submitted as evidence -as deemed worthy".
It was a white wash in other words.
I was asked by someone to give evidence but was then told that as I was on the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime (PAWS) I had to abide by that contract and could not give evidence.
There were plaster casts of pawprints that were definitely large cat and a baggie with five hairs a cat left as it ran through a wire fence was dismissed as they were unable to carry out hair analysis.
Droppings that were large and very cat-like were rejected. I was told that anyone could get a friend at a zoo or wildlife park to pick up droppings or make plaster casts and even gather hair. This shows why finds need to be mapped as well as photographed (date stamp) in situ and bagged immediately.
There were a couple farmers who had recordings of large cat calls but, sadly, those, too, can be recorded at zoos or wildlife parks. Eye witness testimony was also not that accepted and the kill they chose to look at was obviously not a cat kill.
I was once asked whether I would do an independent investigation and gather evidence but I explained that no one was willing to put up money for that and I definitely could not afford to pay for the work.
Since then, still in the 1990s, we got DNA twice as well as scat from a cat and expert trackers from outside the UK and independent of the pro and anti parties involved, have found evidence.
We know the cats of various types are out there and have been for a very long time (minimum early 19th century) and they have had no negative impact on wildlife and despite many fake claims -a good few I investigated- no one has ever been harmed by a wild living large cat -they avoid people and even in cases where they were accidentally cornered they simply snarled as the person involved moved back and allowed them to escape. Today, DEFRA has any trapped large cats killed on the spot even when someone has found a wildlife park to take them.
I keep vague location records and never tell people where cats are sighted -besides a cat covers a great deal of territory as I have noted before).
They are here and new native species.
