Everyone, surely, has heard stories about the Beast of Bodmin Moor, the most famous case of something called (stupidly, in my opinion) “alien big cats”. Yes, for years and years, people have been seeing big cats in the wild over here in Blighty, which is made mysterious by the fact Britain has no native big cats (not really big’ns… we can just about manage a European Wildcat).
Well, up in Scotland, a sharp-eyed guy caught sight of something recently, and filmed it for the world to see. Yup, it’s purported to be a big cat, and thankfully, he recorded the video on his mobile phone, which means I can legitimately talk about it here!
I will say, right away, that does indeed look very feline, especially at the beginning, where it moves just like a cat does, and when it’s walking on the rail. Balancing on something as thin as a rail isn’t something that comes easily to dogs, but comes really easily to moggies, ‘cos of how they evolved to hunt (dogs: pack hunters on the plains, who run down their prey… cats: solitary ambush predators, mostly, who dropped out of trees onto prey). Although I’ll concede that its gait, when walking on the rail, is a bit waddling.
Of course, add in that the guy doing the filming is a police dog handler, and therefore should have some idea of relative sizes of animals, and more to the point, exactly how dogs behave, and you have compelling evidence this really is a big moggy, exhibiting behaviour consistent with patrolling the borders of its territory.
Of course, I’m intrigued (well I would be) by what phone he’s using to capture the video on, since that ain’t a bad video at all. I’d love to know what phone it was, but I have a suggestion for the guy who saw it, PC Chris Swallow: get thyself a Samsung i8910 HD, and let’s try and capture the little blighter in HD video.
Actually, in the realm of mysterious things happening, big cats roaming round the British countryside is quite a dull one, as it’s eminently plausible and pretty chuffin’ easy to explain. Escapees from zoos and travelling circuses probably account for some of the sightings, and with the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976, it became illegal for private collectors to keep ‘em. So they turned ‘em out. And off a-roaming they went.
Oh, and yes, I have seen a wild big cat myself, which is, I suspect, part of the reason why I find the whole big moggies in the UK thing so interesting. Yes, it was black, yes it was pretty big, no it wasn’t a dog, it’s head, and body, and tail, and legs, and everything, were the wrong shape.
So, yes, unlike UFOs (something I find I’m more sceptical about every day, what with all the nutjobs out there), I’m perfectly prepared to accept… no, I have accepted there’s some big moggies doing big moggy-type things in the wilds of Britain…
Have you seen a big cat in Britain? Or do you reckon it’s a load of rubbish? Leave us a comment and have your say!