Since the extinction of bears in the medieval ages and wolves in the 1800s, no terrestrial predator poses any great danger to humans in Britain. So, there aren’t any man-eating beasts roaming the wilderness … or are there?
The allure of cats, big ones at that, has captivated mankind since they first met as prehistoric ancestors. 300,000 years ago, early humans Homo Heidelbergensis lived in tandem with sabre-toothed cats, competing for prey as apex predators.
The UK is not a nation renowned for its exotic wild animals. Deer, boar and otters are about as large, dangerous and beautiful, respectively, as it gets on the British Isles. The idea that there are big cats stalking the rural landscape dates back millennia and since the press began, stories of sightings have kept local newspaper columns ticking over nicely. Notable examples of ‘phantom cats’ to make news bulletins include the Beast of Bodmin/Exmoor/Dartmoor, Essex lion, Pershore panther and the wildcat of Warwickshire.
One species of wild cat is native to the UK. The Scottish Highlands are home to a small population of the European wildcat, though these are no bigger than domestic ones. What thousands of people claim to have spotted are big wild cats – leopards, pumas or lynx. The three largest big cats (tiger, lion and jaguar) are not included as possible species behind the phantom theory, they’re too distinct to go unnoticed and no potential evidence has ever surfaced. From all the (albeit lacklustre) video footage and witness accounts, theorists unanimously agree that if phantom cats do exist, they’re the smaller ‘big cats’. Still, leopards and pumas, similar in size, can reach 2 metres in length and weigh up to 90kg, while much smaller lynx are more than capable of killing deer and sheep.
The current consensus from scientists and the government is that there are not any ‘alien’ big cats running wild in the UK. At least not any more. During the first half of the 20th century, keeping wild animals as pets was not uncommon. A lack of regulations and awareness for proper animal welfare meant exotic species could share receipt space with handbags and jewellery. Perhaps the most well documented high street animal sale is Christian, an African lion purchased from a Harrods window as a cub in 1969. Before outgrowing his owners, he’d spend a year living in a Chelsea flat, walking along the Thames and going to restaurants.
In 1976, the government introduced the Dangerous Wild Animals Act (DWA), prohibiting private owners keeping exotic species without an appropriate license. Obtaining one required owners to install costly adequate enclosures. Those not inclined to do so made one of three choices: rehome their animals to zoos, put them down or “mistakenly” release them. Thus from 1976 onwards, sightings of big cats surged followed by sensational press reports, accelerating public interest and fear. As of 2020, there are 200 wild cats (smaller species, of the genetic subfamily‘Felinae’) and 50 big cats (‘Pantherinae’) privately owned in Britain.
Several amateur organisations have emerged with the aim of documenting accounts of sightings. The British Big Cat Society “was set up to scientifically identify, quantify, catalogue and protect the Big Cats that freely roam the British countryside.”, as stated on its website. Mike Potts runs BeastWatch UK, “we will monitor & investigate reports of ‘out of place’ unrecorded non-native species which appear to be living wild in the UK.”
There’s a stark contrast in knowledge of phantom cat theories between urban and rural residents. It’s my guess that most people living in urban areas are completely unaware of the theory at all, let alone believing it. In certain rural areas though, it’s common knowledge these cats exist, or have at least existed in recent years.
A key character in the midst of Britain’s big cat myths is Mary Chipperfield. A notorious animal trainer, circus owner and co-owner of Plymouth Zoo, Ms Chipperfield was allegedly responsible for releasing three pumas on Dartmoor after Plymouth Zoo closed in 1978.
As the claim goes, one day in 1978, a woman loaded a van with five pumas at what was then Plymouth Zoo at the city’s Central Park. She was due to drive them around 10 miles to Dartmoor Wildlife Park, but by the time the van arrived, only two pumas were on board, with three spare animal tags in the back.
This unsubstantiated claim was made by Danny Bamping, founder of the British Big Cat Society. Since Ms. Chipperfield’s death in 2014, the allegations have been refuted by her husband Roger Crawley, who breeds white tigers in southern Spain. The pair were convicted of animal cruelty after a high-profile trial in 1999.
While it wasn’t illegal to release exotic animals until 1981, questions have still been raised over the ethical nature of releasing fauna into country where the species is not native. As it goes, big cats, especially pumas and leopards, are incredibly versatile in adapting to all kinds of habitats. Leopards have the largest range of the big cats. Across nine subspecies, they can be found from South Africa to the Russian Far East. While pumas inhabit the length of the Americas, from Patagonia to Canada.
Dartmoor zoo’s previous owner, Ellis Daw, was a local legend in the Plymouth area. He had long, impressive careers in various sectors, from the military to a timber contractor to stock car racing driver before utilising his farming background to found Dartmoor Wildife Park in 1968. By no means a ‘by-the-book’ man, Daw’s disregard for protocol landed him in hot water over the course of his tenure at the park. He faced sixteen claims against him, but was only charged with one – for breeding Siberian tigers outside of a captive breeding programme and poor husbandry. As a result, he was fined £200 and had his tigers confiscated. This lax attitude toward the animals’ welfare could potentially be the cause of the moor pumas.
Dartmoor Zoo’s current owner, Benjamin Mee, gives some clarity and a balanced assessment of the fabled three pumas in a 2019 interview. He recounts his own sighting shortly after taking ownership of the zoo in 2006. Driving down a narrow country lane at night, he spotted what, at first glance, he thought to be the head of a deer, peering over the brow of the roadside hedge. As he stopped the car to get a proper look, he said it transformed into a huge puma, broad-shouldered with a large, rounded head. “What we think we saw was a young male between 3 and 10, in its prime – the two girls that we had were much smaller. I just thought this is… Where have we? … I’ve brought two little children to this place and there’s wild pumas in the village, what’s going on?!” The following morning, he told the keepers, to which one replied “oh yeah there’s puma round ‘ere, granddad let ‘em out.”
Mee says there’s two versions of one story behind the loose cats. The first; three pumas, irresponsibly housed in a farmhouse, suddenly escaped, unbeknown to Daw – who then set about looking for them on the moors with his rifle, to no avail. The second version of events is that of Ms. Chipperfield, as explained earlier, transferring the five pumas to Daw’s Dartmoor park.
Whether Chipperfield released three of the five on her own before reaching the park, if Daw’s negligence is the reason, or if the two owners colluded before releasing the cats, in a joint effort to re-wild them, remains unknown. “That’s not such a far-fetched idea and I’ve heard that story perhaps more than the other ones”, Mee says. The jury’s still out on each tale, but we can conclusively say there were at least three loose pumas around Dartmoor.
“All the farmers around will tell you, quietly off the record, ‘when Ellis had the place there were always cats out.’”
Mee had his own feline mishap in 2016. Flavieu, a Carpathian lynx escaped for a number of weeks before being returned safely. In the midst of the frantic find for Flavieu, Mee recalls how the local livestock behaved differently, detecting the presence of a potential predator. “My neighbour said all her horses gathered in one place in the middle of a field, ‘just like the old days’, she said, ‘when the puma was around.’”
Another story Mee calls a “very strong, more or less confirmed sighting” came from the vet who worked at the zoo. A seemingly grouchy “old-school guy who didn’t suffer fools or explain things, one day, after several years, confided he’d seen a puma on the A38, jumping from some roadkill at 4.00am.” The cat apparently cleared the length of both lanes in one bound. “He clearly, as a vet, saw it in the air with its tail. And he said, ‘I haven’t told anybody because they’d assume I was part of the loony brigade.’ And I said, ‘I saw one David, in the village!’, and he looked at me like I was part of the loony brigade. It was really good – he had his failings in other ways but he was a credible observer of animals.”
Between 2010-15, 455 big cat sightings were logged by police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to The Sun, and thousands more are reported directly to amateur organisations annually. A good chunk of sightings consists of people claiming to see black cats. This immediately excludes pumas, as they only come in red, tawny-brown and tan coloured coats. What many are describing in their claims are ‘black panthers’.
A black panther is in fact just a melanistic variation of either a leopard or a jaguar with a rare recessive gene mutation, causing their coats to appear black. Furthermore, ‘black panthers’ aren’t completely black. Their coats are of a very dark brown hue, with an almost-opaque effect on the normal, rosette-patterned coats, which are clearly visible up close under bright light. Studies estimate only 11% (at most) of all leopard/jaguar populations constitute as black panthers. Among those claiming to have seen one, is broadcaster Clare Balding.
So, how come more than half of claimed sightings in the UK relate to an animal which is extremely rare even in its natural habitat? I wish I could provide a definite answer – I can’t. What is clear though, is that a substantial amount of reported sightings are simply false. “There’s this predisposition of people to think they’ve seen one”, Mee tells his interviewer. Much like when we see a piece of black thread and assume it’s a spider for a split second, our brains have evolved to fill in the blanks and assume the worst instinctively.
The inception of the DWA no doubt triggered a mini exodus of big cats into British countryside. “This is why the DWA caused releases, because of the expense of housing them properly. I’m sure lots of them did go to zoos but there would’ve been a limit.” On “current sightings based on [releases due to] DWA”, Mee says he’d be “amazed, personally” if there were any cats still around either released since 1976 or offspring descending from such specimens.
On a random note, I once met Mr. Mee at his zoo in 2011 as he strolled around the park talking to visitors. If only I’d taken the opportunity to probe him further on the pumas, I may have been in with a decent scoop for this story.
Of the many grainy videos scattered on the internet, even the most convincing footage shows an above-average-sized tabby. Take a look at just some of the stories compiled below to make up your own mind.
express.co.uk/news/uk/855678/big-cat-sighting-UK-puma-pictured-London-garden
devonlive.com/news/devon-news/everyone-reporting-big-cats-sightings
cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/big-cat-size-alsatian-captured
cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/dog-attacked-panther-before-owner
plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/big-cats-theyre-real
plymouthherald.co.uk/news/local-news/multiple-beast-bodmin-big-cat
plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/plymouth-dad-claims-saw-big-cat
somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/big-cat-pictured-field-decapitated
thesun.co.uk/news/11637610/big-cat-decapitated-lamb-mauled-devon
thesun.co.uk/news/2162853/big-cat-uk-spotted-britain
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/drone-footage-show-large-cat
burytimes.co.uk/news/17186351.second-big-cat-sighting-sends-horses-frenzy
northdevongazette.co.uk/news/ilfracombe-big-cat
wired.co.uk/article/uk-big-cat-hunters-investigations
Featured image courtesy of Chirs Luxford, via Flickr.
*This article was first published in May 2021*