The Lincolnshire Bird Club

My sister and brother in law were coming back from hull last sunday night,travelling on the road to southferriby just past the circle near the bridge when what they thought was lights from another car on same side of the road as they drew nearer they could plainly see two large eyes of a panther/puma like black cat with a long tail which bounded very quickly into the roadside,they state they had a good view and that it was a large black cat,nearby at roxby there has been sightings also.
Roger hebb.

no replys-amazing!!!does not anyone know of anybody whos seen a black cat/panther/puma in lincs-or have any opinions? on the subject???????????is people brain dead on this??)-oh well-im thinking of writing a book on lincolnshire reports on this-well maybe!!
Roger.

Roger, I'm afraid I'm rather sceptical about their existence in the wild in Lincolnshire. When you think of all the farmers, birders, shooters, fox hunters, shepherds, police etc. etc. who are out and about at all times in all parts of the county, I would have thought there would have been some irrefuable proof by now.

I'm afraid I agree with Stuart, Roger. No disrespect at all to your sister or brother-in-law but the sightings always seem to be by non-naturalists. Such folk are presumably less good at 'beast' identification than those who are out in the countryside all the time armed with binoculars etc, and yet who never seem to see anything of this kind.
Still, I would enjoy being proved wrong one day!

For all those doubting Thomas's
As seen on Look North tonight. Near Alford.

Graham, I saw Look North and went to school with Mr. Crust! Suffice it to say that neither the photograph of the black blob nor his narrative did anything to change my opinion!

I know of 2 people who state they have seen a large black cat 1 on the outskirts of Sleaford and the 2nd near Anwick although both sightings were a few years ago i have no doubt that the person who made the Anwick sighting was sure he had seen a puma/panther

I am not going to identify my sources (they may read this site and may contribute to it occasionally) and if I seem vague, then I'm sorry but I know that there are numerous large cats in this county kept in captivity from wintering circuses and the like. They may escape! One beast was photographed (poorly, as always) and when an official (whose judgement in these matters is to be trusted) investiged the report he concluded that the cat in the pic must have been puma size. Plaster casts of large cat/puma footprints have been collected at a coastal site. As for all 'all the farmers, birders, shooters, fox hunters, shepherds, police etc. etc' who don't see these animals - I'm not surprised. How many people go to suitable sites in Africa and don't see Leopards, or India and don't see Tigers?

I should add that I don't believe 90% of these reports but feel it best to keep an open mind. Anybody seen any wallabies yet?

John

This seems to be another case of "if I haven't seen it, it doesn't exist". I've never seen a large cat in Lincs or anywhere else in this country, nor do I know if there are any. However, watching a re-run of "Portillo wild in Spain" last night on the Beeb was interesting. He spoke to a bee keeper whose hives are regulary wrecked by local Brown Bears. Although annoyed, the guy is paid compensation for the raids by the Spanish Govt.. The point is that despite many such occurances, the keeper has NEVER seen a bear ! Big cats are notoriously good at hiding themselves and are also, mostly nocturnal. How many of us go roaming round inaccessible woodlands at night ? (perhaps it's better not to answer that !). For all those who bemoan lack of proof, what about the body of a lynx, shown in an item on this subject recently on Look North ? I agree that the majority of the sightings are probably nonsense and the video footage I've seen hopelessly unconvincing but there is also footage of dead farm animals which seem to bear all the hallmarks of a big cat kill.
My conclusion is that while scepticism is healthy, a closed mind is not.
Terry.

Before birdwatching took over from my rugby,I reported a 'BBC' just outside of fenton........about 12 year ago!It was black but had a white head. .......stay with me here!I reported it to the wildlife officer at the time who casually suggested the light colour was from grain/flour silos where rats frequent.I got the impression he'd had similar reports before.

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Viking says Keep Ahaad

There was a national news item last about big wild cats in UK which said that over 2000 sightings have been reported in the last 3 years. However, none of these was accompanied by photographic eveidence or by a specific identification.

John

Hello,
I refer you to the front page of the Lincolnshire Echo,
Best wishes,
Ian.