Are big cats on the loose in Scotland

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I remember we stayed up near the cairngorms and whilst on a walk we found a sheep that had had is entire side torn out.. it was just ribs and and empty cavity... no idea what it was that had eaten it.
 
Slippery kaboosh said:
I remember we stayed up near the cairngorms and whilst on a walk we found a sheep that had had is entire side torn out.. it was just ribs and and empty cavity... no idea what it was that had eaten it.
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Are Aberdeen fans of the black widow variety 👀
 
In all seriousness, it's not likely there are big cats about in Scotland.
I lived in Australia in the 1980s. I mind a TV news story with footage of a claimed sighting of a Thylacine - a Tasmanian Tiger. Carnivorous marsupial. Size of a big dog. Maybe 70 lbs. Extinct. The last one died in a zoo in 1936.
I was of a mind that there were likely to be some still around in the wild in Tasmania. If The Good Lord had appeared, told me he'd answer the question of whether there were any Thylacines about and offered me a price on an "Aye" or a "Nay", I'd have taken short odds that there were a few about.
Tasmania's almost exactly the same size as mainland Scotland. Less than 10% of Scotland's population today, never mind 40 years back. It's far more impenetrable than the Highlands. Considerably warmer. Lots of vicious scrub & forest.
The number of people looking for Thylacines when cheap automatic cameras with trip sensors first became available was comical. There were hundreds of cameras on remote bush trails. Nothing that's likely to be a Thylacine was ever photographed. The number of folk looking for the Tassie Tiger has fallen substantially.
They're almost certainly extinct😥.
I'd admit there are far fewer big cat hunters in Scotland than Thylacine nutters in Tasmania, but someone would likely have photographed one if they were there.
 
A few years ago my FiL was exiting his garden gate into the fields behind his house to take the dogs for their walk. He says he saw a fox running towards him being pursued by what he described were two big cats like Pumas. At that point he still had the dogs on their leads so he ran back into the garden.
Since then there’s been the odd wild animal body parts found in the area, leg of a deer, carcasses etc but no other sign of big cats
 
Easily possible.

Would be a perfect environment for a Puma for example.

Bit cold for most big cats...but they survive in Zoos in Scotland...so why not.
 
Beagle said:
A few years ago my FiL was exiting his garden gate into the fields behind his house to take the dogs for their walk. He says he saw a fox running towards him being pursued by what he described were two big cats like Pumas. At that point he still had the dogs on their leads so he ran back into the garden.
Since then there’s been the odd wild animal body parts found in the area, leg of a deer, carcasses etc but no other sign of big cats
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What area was that in Beagle?
 
Many wild cats survive in cold climates. Bobcats, Canada Lynx and Cougers in Canada for instance.
 
Black and white cat that seems to think it owns the whole scheme is massive.

But I think it gets fed at plenty hooses. Either that or it's got a cracking beer belly.
 
EH17 Jimmy said:
Black and white cat that seems to think it owns the whole scheme is massive.

But I think it gets fed at plenty hooses. Either that or it's got a cracking beer belly.
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The beer belly is the primordial pouch, Jimmy. It's a flap of skin that all cats have - even the big wild yins.

The cat probably does own the whole scheme, mate. :happiness-1:
 
I do see it in many different streets. For a 'big' cat it Cannae half jump fences. I'm just surprised the fences dont collapse.
 
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In the days of everyone having a camera in their hand nearly every waking second, any encounters with big cats would be well documented. There has probably been one two escapees over the years, but they are certainly not becoming established. The farmers of this land would soon let it be known if they were losing livestock.
 
Not big cats but there have long been wallabies locally here. Clip showing one on local farmland and one hopping along on the edge of Calverton Golf Course.

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My pal was walking his dog
Stu said:
Not big cats but there have long been wallabies locally here. Clip showing one on local farmland and one hopping along on the edge of Calverton Golf Course.

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When I used to live up near Comrie I would often see wallabies on the back road by Auchingarrich. First time was a bit of shock right enough but it became a fairly common occurrence.

A few years back I worked on a project about big cats in the uk. Apparently the US rangers brought Pumas over as mascots during WWII. The rangers trained up near Cannich and Glen Affric. When they shipped out to go to Europe, they were forced to leave them. Locals claimed several may have survived for quite a while.

(A quick digression.) When I was young my mate worked up that way as an apprentice forester - apparently they used to go through saw chains constantly because the trees were so full of shrapnel and bullets from all the live fire training when the trees were young.

Anyway… apparently there may be Lynx in Tentsmuir forest too.

These guys used to document all the sighting and collate evidence. Sadly it seems the site might be broken now

Scottish Big Cat Trust / Scottish Big Cats / Scottish Big Cat Society

Extensive information about hundreds sightings of naturalised non-native cats in Scotland, including witness accounts, newspaper clippings and photographic evidence.
scotcats.online.fr
 
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Bofahibee said:
My pal was walking his dog

When I used to live up near Comrie I would often see wallabies on the back road by Auchingarrich. First time was a bit of shock right enough but it became a fairly common occurrence.

A few years back I worked on a project about big cats in the uk. Apparently the US rangers brought Pumas over as mascots during WWII. The rangers trained up near Cannich and Glen Affric. When they shipped out to go to Europe, they were forced to leave them. Locals claimed several may have survived for quite a while.

(A quick digression.) When I was young my mate worked up that way as an apprentice forester - apparently they used to go through saw chains constantly because the trees were so full of shrapnel and bullets from all the live fire training when the trees were young.

Anyway… apparently there may be Lynx in Tentsmuir forest too.

These guys used to document all the sighting and collate evidence. Sadly it seems the site might be broken now

Scottish Big Cat Trust / Scottish Big Cats / Scottish Big Cat Society

Extensive information about hundreds sightings of naturalised non-native cats in Scotland, including witness accounts, newspaper clippings and photographic evidence.
scotcats.online.fr
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I went metal detecting with the kids at tentsmuir forest.. found some ww2 bullets then let the kids have a shot....a few days later I read that live ww2 shells had been found there ... safe to say i won't do that again😂
 
In the 80's there was talk of a big cat roaming roaming a huge area North of Inverness. Ex wife and I out for a walk one day with our Collie and she disappeared into a thickly wooded area. We then heard a deep throated growl and our dog came shooting out, tail firmly between her legs and her hair lying flat on her neck and back. She wrapped herself round my legs, never seen a dog look so scared. I've always thought that was probably the big cat.
 
Slippery kaboosh said:
I went metal detecting with the kids at tentsmuir forest.. found some ww2 bullets then let the kids have a shot....a few days later I read that live ww2 shells had been found there ... safe to say i won't do that again😂
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Do you have permission to metal detect at tentsmuir forest?

The Forestry Commission will be after you!
 
Jack said:
Do you have permission to metal detect at tentsmuir forest?

The Forestry Commission will be after you!
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There were a couple of guys cutting back trees and we spoke to them for a bit but all they asked is if we had found anything good... seen people there before but i mostly do the beach
 
Slippery kaboosh said:
There were a couple of guys cutting back trees and we spoke to them for a bit but all they asked is if we had found anything good... seen people there before but i mostly do the beach
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Just to let you know you need the owners permission to dig on land. The Forestry Commission don't allow it unless there are very special reasons and even then the requirements are quite specific.

You are allowed to metal detect on most beaches, between high and low tide points, without permission.

These are the rules/law in Scotland.
 
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