My first thought was that this was a silly story and after a lot of consideration I decided it definitely WAS a silly story.
A dad drops his daughter at school after seeing this 'jaguar' and does not alert the school to the danger? He goes back and watches the 'jaguar' for 5 minutes and takes a vague photograph and...does not even alert the police to the fact that there is a member of the big cat family behind the school...chasing birds in a tree.
Apologies for the language but I call bull shit.
I started looking into non native species, specifically felids in 1976 and worked with UK police forces from 1977 on. Not once has there ever -EVER- been a cat of the size or with any of the diagnostic features of a jaguar reported in the UK countryside nor in the EU.
A 'lynx' or a 'jaguar' -what utter nonsense as those cats have absolutely no similarities and the patterning in the photo is not a lynx and definitely NOT a jaguar.
Above: exotic breed of pet cat the Bengal.
If anything it was far more likely to be a pet Bengal cat that spark off reports quite a lot. It is not n'jaguar' size. We see these stupid reports all of the time and the question is which are deliberate hoaxes for fun or money and which are reports from people who are mistaken.
Junk reporting and very low credibility report because no one is going to drop their child off at school and not alert staff or police to there being a "big cat" near to it.
Leandro Santos peered through the trees beside the school and says he saw a patterned big cat (Image: Leandro Santos / SWNS)
A father was astounded to catch a glimpse of what he describes as a substantial 1.5m "lynx or jaguar" while on the school run with his daughter in Orpington. Leandro Santos, 37, was accompanying his seven year old near some woodland on Tuesday October 15, when an unusual yowling sound and the agitated behaviour of birds caught his attention.
The finance manager from Swanley claimed he saw the large, spotted feline lurking in the trees close to the school. After swiftly ensuring his daughter reached school safely, he returned to observe the imposing creature for about five minutes around 8.45am, noting its predatory movements among the birds.
Leandro shared his astonishment and apprehension, remarking: "I was so surprised. It was beautiful but also very scary." He went into further detail, describing its size and appearance: "It was massive - I'd say 80 centimetres off the ground. It was yellowish with black spots."
Drawing from his background, the Brazilian expat said: "I'm originally from Brazil and if I saw this there I'd say it was a jaguar. At one point it looked directly at me - that was very frightening," as reported by Kent Live. Expanding upon his encounter, he mentioned: "It was trying to get into a birds nest but they were flying at it to keep it off. Some other birds joined in and I thought it would be safest to leave," reports The Mirror.
There have been numerous reports of big cat sightings in the UK over the years. Instances include the capture of a puma in 1980. However, according to NewScientist, the UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs states that no credible evidence of big cats has been presented to Natural England in several decades.
