Wild big cats like this one sighted in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Big Cats – Sightings in Forest of Dean 'Reliable'

Posted by Jon King on Jan 21, 2009

Tagged with: big cats, big cats society, forestry commission, mystery, myth & legend, sightings, unexplained, weird nature

Two big cats caught on camera by Forestry Commission rangers working in the Forest of Dean, were ‘reliabe’, according to the Forestry Commission.

Big Cat Sightings in the UK: Forestry Commission Confirmation

Evidently, the sighting is one of several such reports from the area in the past decade.

According to Commission spokesperson, Richard Burgess, the sightings were made by rangers while out hunting deer. “These are very experienced guys and they know what is and what isn’t a deer. One definitely believed that what he saw was some sort of large cat.”

In support of the claims, a survey carried out by the British Big Cats Society revealed there have been literally thousands of reported sightings of big cats over the years. The survey documented more than 2000 sightings in the years 2004 and 2005 alone.

Do Big Cats exist in the Forest of Dean & other remote areas of Britain?

Evidently the most popular UK hotspots are the West Country, Kent and Yorkshire, with Scotland and Wales following closely behind. But there have been reports of big cats roaming wild in other areas of Britain as well.

According to locals, the village of Hevingham in Norfolk certainly produces its fair share of big cat sightings, and was named Britain’s ‘big cat hotspot’ in 2006. A year later Norfolk claimed 23 of Britain’s 675 reported sightings.

In more recent times, sightings of wild pumas, panthers and lynx have become more widespread, with photographic evidence also on the increase (see photo at top of page).

Experts believe many of the sightings are probably genuine—the result of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, passed in 1976, which made it illegal to keep big cats without a licence. As a result, many big cats were released into the wild … where, it seems, they remain to this day.

How about you? Have you ever come across a big cat in the wild?

If you have, or you know someone who has, we would love to hear from you, especially if you managed to capture the beast on film…

image source: Big Cat Monitors