Over at Binnall of America, Richard Thomas delves deep into the controversial world of the British big-cat, or the Alien Big Cat (ABC). As he says in part:
"One of these I've always found interesting, is the idea that some of the exotic animals the Romans may have brought here to use in their amphitheatres could have escaped or even been let go into the wild. If not the Romans, maybe the ABCs originate from the Victorians. They also kept exotic pets and used big cats in their circuses. Another theory that has always intrigued me is the idea that the ABCs might not be 'Alien' at all but instead an unidentified species of big cat native to Britain, perhaps survivors from the prehistoric past. Fossil evidence indicates that the lynx survived in Britain until at least 1,500 years ago, its extinction due to human activity rather than environmental changes. Maybe in more remote areas, like parts of Wales, some managed to survive into modern times."
Here's the link to the rest of Richard's article.
2 comments:
Good article by Binnall, Nick.
I do tend to go for at least some of these sightings being unidentified species of cats native to Britain. Good theories, too.
The puma would not have been owned by the Roman's as it was a New World cat. Leopards most certainly and that's where the original influx began...but I don't go for the indigenous and surviving species. Leopards were in our midst over 12,000 years ago and don't believe they hung on. Even in the most remote circumstances of survival it doesn't explain as to why there are no normal leopard sightings and only black...I also am pretty sure that there are no undiscovered species of British big cat out there, based on my research in Kent we ARE dealing wity black leopards, puma, lynx, jungle cat, jungle cat/domestic cat hybrids, and at times ocelot, servals, caracal and escapees. In other cases across the UK there may well be very large feral's but this is nothing that amazing considering some of the huge feral cats that have turned up in Australia.
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