The following details of the account are the most interesting:
“It was beige/brown in colour, had chunky, fur-covered legs, a long tail and rounded-off ears. It was large, at least four to five feet long, and it moved just like a female African lion. I followed it as it ran towards the treeline, then it was gone in about ten seconds.”
The observer most probably saw a puma (mountain lion, cougar). In the early '60s many 'lioness' reports were likely to have been pumas. For one, the tail of a lion is thing and tufted, whereas a puma tail very long and sweeping and quite thick. The rounded ears suggest a puma also, as does the colouration.
It's very unlikely there are lions anywhere in the UK unless one escapes from a zoo or circus, and even then it would be easy to recapture something which naturally seeks a pride and large prey.
2 comments:
The following details of the account are the most interesting:
“It was beige/brown in colour, had chunky, fur-covered legs, a long tail and rounded-off ears. It was large, at least four to five feet long, and it moved just like a female African lion. I followed it as it ran towards the treeline, then it was gone in about ten seconds.”
The observer most probably saw a puma (mountain lion, cougar). In the early '60s many 'lioness' reports were likely to have been pumas. For one, the tail of a lion is thing and tufted, whereas a puma tail very long and sweeping and quite thick. The rounded ears suggest a puma also, as does the colouration.
It's very unlikely there are lions anywhere in the UK unless one escapes from a zoo or circus, and even then it would be easy to recapture something which naturally seeks a pride and large prey.
Thanks Neil; yes a cougar sounds far more plausible than a lion.
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