British Big Cats

I know that not all cats that are non native and in the UK are members of the Big cat family. To make it clear I will repost this piece from the last post.

The Red Paper: Felids will be Science based document to be submitted  to DEFRA, Home Office as well as other groups with an interest.

Between 1977~2012 I worked as an exotic fauna consultant to UK police forces and was also consulted by both German and Dutch police forces regarding large, non native cat sightings (as coordinator of the Exotic Animals Register). I also worked with farmers, game keepers, estates as well as other official bodies to assess sightings, activity and tracks, kills and scat.

Neither the EAR nor I are involved in hunting and it is necessary to emphasize this as some individuals have been unwilling to give information without a guarantee that no hunting is involved).  Under existing laws trapping of any animal cannot take place without the guarantee of secure transport to a licensed wildlife park or zoological garden.

It is not anything to do with any government body.  It is a private study by a naturalist of 50 years: me.

I am not interested in accounts of shape shifting cats or cats with "paranormal powers".

Only real evidence would be accepted.

1) Please, if you can make recasts of prints in your possession that you wish to submit, do so.  Vagaries of the postal system means items can get lost or be broken so do not send all your casts and the ones you do suitably protect.

2) If you only have clear photos of paw~prints suspected of having been made by a large cat then please forward these as jpegs only and head any message as Big Cats Photograph.

3) If you have photographs of animals allegedly killed by a non native cat please forward these under the heading above but subject head  "Big Cats Photograph. Kill"

4) If you suspect that you have scat/droppings from a non native cat or other samples "Big Cats Photograph. Samples"

5) Please do not send any samples until they can be assessed and analysis guaranteed.

6) Always include dates, times, locations where any evidence/photographs was taken.

7) Always include your contact details

8) Anyone can contribute to the study and please be aware that submissions from the public are submitted under the guarantee of confidentiality. No identifying information will be included in the final report though to authenticate evidence as genuine I would require this (from 1977~2012 no witness has ever been identified without explicit permission ~this is a guarantee).

9) All communication will be via letter or email unless specific extra details are required so if you can, please include a phone number.

That is it. Nothing too scary and no groups are excluded whether farmers groups or UK Big Cat groups or naturalists: any genuine evidence is accepted.

Note that anonymous submissions will not be included in the study and will probably be binned.

Initial contact via email to:

blacktowercg@hotmail.com

Thank You