Seeking Britain’s Big Cats
Posted by: Nick Redfern on December 15th, 2012
My latest Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com, on Britain’s Big Cats, which begins like this…
“For decades, people all across the United Kingdom – from the cold northern realms of Scotland to the southern-most borders of England – have reported sightings of large cats, very often the size of mountain-lions and equally often completely black in color.
“Their many and varied colorful and memorable names include the Beast of Bodmin, the Essex Lion, the Surrey Puma, and the Beast of Exmoor.
“Needless to say, no-one should be seeing any such creatures – anywhere at all – in the wilds of the UK. And yet people do see them, on no less than dozens and dozens of occasions each and every year. So, since Britain has no large, indigenous cats in its midst at all, this begs a very important and big question: where are the cats coming from? Let’s see…”
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
To quote:
“Foley added, somewhat guardedly, that his friend, One-Eyed Nick Maiden, personally released both a panther and a cougar, after they had been given to him when their owner became completely unable to cope with caring for the beasts.”
What species would have been meant by “panther”, because as there ain’t no such species (genus, of course yes, as “panthera”) with that name, and as I understand is the term used in North America at least to describe a puma/cougar/mountain lion?
Hey David
Yes, you’re absolutely right. My words are quoting Foley’s words – literally. if you Google him, you can find quite a bit if you know where to look, so that may open up a few more leads on what, exactly, got released.