Posted on 06/04/2004 7:41:40 AM PDT by ZULU
HAAAHAAAHAAAA!!!
"While the deliberate release of exotic felines in Britain is a criminal offense, Moiser says it may not be a bad idea, because grazing animals such as deer currently have no natural predators to keep populations in check."
How about those anti-western Islamic clerics? Can they be trained to eat those?
Sure. Just issue a fatwa that clerics must eat deer.
b
Waitaminute...has anybody seen the Bundeswehr lately? Whose turn was it to keep an eye on it?
Out west of course, mountain lions have become a rather unwelcome presence in certain communities. I remember the warnings posted at the trail head at the Flat Iron Formation in Boulder, Colorado. Nice kitty.
Global warming is maknig the kitty cats spread northward....
I don't think melanism is at 66 percent among wild leopards. These sightings seem oddly skewed toward the fantasies of people who watch old movies like The Cat People.
I think you are right.
I remember reading somewhere that melanism in Leopards is related to the terrain they live in - thick forests having more melanistic leopards than open country - but still very low in percetage.
There have been sightings of them out east now too - in placecs like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, MAryland and New York.
There is actually more forest cover in those states now than in later colonial times and far more deer - which of course are their main menu.
Ah, but if a very high % of pet leopards chosen by British fanciers were melanistic, it follows that a population founded by escapees/releasees will have an elevated % of the trait as well. It's an example of "founder effect".
Can't eliminate your scenario, but a spotted yellow leopard is a pretty striking animal too. Where are they?
Also I know something about the British climate (virtually all of my professors in Kenya were Scottish or British ....and I've personally spent some time there), and the types of cats that can survive in a cold clammy moor type of environment. Also add to this the type of pets that used to be kept before possessing feral cats was banned in Britain.
Hence I believe the type of cat being seen in Britain (if they actually exist and are not some British manifestation of the Sasquatch) is either a Leopard (from Africa or India), or maybe it is a Puma (from N. America)
. However there is also the added chance that it is an amalgamation of the two species (since it has been shown several of the large cat species can mate and produce exotic offspring …eg a lion and a tiger can give a liger/tigon; a leopard and a lion can produce a leopon etc. As an aside the largest cat in the world is a Liger, which is immense, by far bigger than even a Siberian/Amur tiger …..that thing looks like a monster)!
The reason I think it might be a leopard is because leopards are the most adaptable big cats, and can survive in any environment ranging from blistering desert furnaces to arctic frozen wastes! Leopards can also eat nigh anything ….and in Africa they have been known to show a particular taste for dogs, even going as far as breaking into people’s compounds and snatching their poor canines (in one case one leopard streaked from a tree and snatched a poodle from the arms of some distraught Briton, who promptly screamed before collapsing in shock). Hence when it comes to survival a leopard could be the culprit!
However personally I think it is a Puma (or maybe a 'Pumard' hybird of leopard and puma). The reason for that is because leopards may not be as big as lions or tigers, but they are regarded as the most ferocious of the big cats and have a seeming wanton for bloodshed! If it were indeed a leopard then instead of a stray dog being killed one would see whole herds of sheep slaughtered in their pens at night (with only one being eaten and the rest being killed for sport). Also leopards have been known to become maneaters in both Africa and India ….and have managed to rack up a comfortable tally of human lives! If it were a leopard, and it is in a community with people, by now there should have been a human fatality (usually a sneak attack at night).
And that is why I think it is a puma! Cougars are generally timid (there are exceptions ofcourse), and the rare cases of attack (very rare) have mostly resulted in deep scratches and very few fatalities (a leopard attack on the other hand will usually result in death). And pumas can also survive in a vast array of environments, just like leopards, meaning they could survive in the British countryside. Also they were kept as pets due to their docility (leopards, it can be said, do not make great pets, especially if you are not fond of deep long lacerations).
As for the dark colorating ....could be Florida panthers ...which is basically a puma subspecies that has a tendency for being melanistic.
Thus I would say if the cat exists it is most likely a puma.
Here are some pictures of big-cat hybrids. Most of them can reproduce (unlike the normal horse-donkey = mule thing).
LIGER(male lion plus tigress, and due to getting the best of both species certain specimens have reached over 12 feet, and can weigh up to 1000 pounds ....for comparison an average African lion weighs aroung half that)
LEOPON (the amalgamation of a leopard and a lion ....they have the rosette spots of a leopard but with the larger body and mane of a lion)
JAGLION (obviously the mix of a Jaguar and a Lion ....similar to a Leopon....only larger!)
CARAVAL (male caracal plus female Serval)
PUMARD (leopard plus puma ...probably one of the cats found in Britain)
Oh, and here is a still from a video that was shot in Australia (yep ...Australia also has interesting 'house cats' prowling around in the outback). This animal is definitely NOT a dog of any sort ....and I'd say it is not Taz either (it's not spinning and whirling and snarling anyways).
Is it a lion or tiger …..nope. Such a large beast would require larger prey than stray dogs, and an adult lion prowling the fields would definitely come into contact with some unfortunate soul, who would most probably run, and because of that be killed! One of the last things you should attempt when faced by a lion (a real lion not a ‘mountain lion’) is run because even if it is not a man-eater it will give chase out of instinct …it is like dangling strong before a cat. Every year myriads of people are killed (some reports say hundreds) by lions as they try to enter south Africa from mozambique (for the better living standards). They try to sneak through the park, and usually end up faced by marauding lions. The ones who make it through to S. Africa are the ones who do not run, do not scream, and do not try to ‘scare’ the lions away by making noises and flailing their arms. The ones who die are the ones who, upon seeing a lion, immediately start to run (one can tell they ran away from their footprints being further apart) and the lion immediately tears them apart! Some climb trees, not knowing that lions can climb many types of short trees (unless you get to a tree that is too straight for the obviously heavier lion), and anyways a lion can leap faster than you can jump such a tree! Others start crying ….not knowing that to a lion a human cry sounds very much like the noise sick wilderbeests make, and lions like picking on sick or wounded prey!
Hence in Britain I doubt it is a lion or tiger ….and I also doubt it is a leopard (although a leopard could easily survive there). Thus the remaining option is either a puma or a florida panther (which were kept as pets ….'normal' pumas because they were docile, and florida panthers because they could be black in color, and hence their owners could lie to friends that they were ‘black panthers’ for the danger aspect).
Or maybe the whole thing is a hoax and what the farmers saw was a big dog …or maybe they had to much ale and were seeing things when there was none (although, as can be seen by the still of the animal in Australia, something does prowl out there ....at least in Australia, and probably in the UK too).
However in some cases evidence (dead carcases) have been discovered that were killed by something that was not a dog …but seemed to be a large, very large, cat. Dogs, for example, do not have claws that can leave huge gashes on animal flanks ....and they certainly do not make guard dogs go into rabid panic! Something is prowling out there.
Interesting, thanks!
Thar Liger is incredible-looking. I've never seen a cat that big.
Interesting report, thank you!
WoW! That ligon is HUGE!
We have cougars, mountain lions out west.
I think you're right about those British sightings probably being come kind of cougar, panther.
Thanks for all the info. and the pics.
Look at the size of that Liger, Pong
Hmmm...seems I couldn't decide whether to call it a liger or tigon and came up with ligon. Oh, well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.