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Last updated at 6:59 PM on 9th February 2012
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097638/Wildcat-Woodchester-video-Six-foot-leopard-caught-camera.html
This is the footage that big cat experts claim proves a jet black leopard is stalking the British countryside.
The grainy film shows what appears to be a 6ft-long beast slinking menacingly around a field near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
It was captured just three miles from Woodchester National Park - where earlier this year the mutilated carcass of a roe deer was found by a dog walker.
Despite the low quality of the never-before-seen footage, enthusiasts insist it is the 'conclusive' evidence that there are big cats on the prowl in the wild in Britain.
Scroll down for video of the 'Wildcat of Woodchester'
And they believe the particular animal in this footage shot by by Coryn Memory is the mysterious 'Wildcat of Woodchester', which has been spotted dozens of times in recent the years.
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, from Gloucestershire, said: 'I think this footage is pretty much conclusive.
'It is the best footage of a big cat ever filmed in the UK - showing what we believe is a slim, young looking black leopard.
'You can tell by the size of the animal - it is huge. We think it is about 2ft tall up to the shoulder and 6ft long including the tail, which is way bigger than a domestic cat.
'It also walks just like a big cat and has an extremely long tail. There have been literally hundreds of reports of big cat sightings in this area for years. This could just be the tip of the iceberg.'
Ms Memory says that this footage was not the first time she had seen the cat, and said she had spotted it on five previous occasions.
She first spotted a large black animal crossing the field near her house in Thrupp, near Stroud, in July 2009.
It again appeared again the following evening and she searched online to try and work out what it might be.
It was then she discovered the stories about a large panther-like animal roaming the Cotswolds.
Later that year she saw it again several times, and took some shaky photographs of the cat in the snow, as well as images of cat footprints.
The intrigued single mum then got in touch with wildlife explorer Mr Tunbridge - who loaned her a camcorder to use the next time she spotted the beast.
In July 2010 she finally caught the animal on film after spotting it skulking in a field 300 yards from her home.
Balancing the handheld camera on a pile of CDs, she managed to film if for ten minutes as the beast stalked across the grass.
It was captured running and walking, before slinking off into the undergrowth near woods, near Rodborough Common.
Mother-of-two Ms Memory who works as a teaching assistant in a special school, said: 'I was fascinated just watching it walking around the field.'I was not frightened at all - just excited to see it and finally get it on camera. It was only about 300 yards away.
'I believe he was looking for voles and mice in the short grass after it had been cut. At one stage a fox was in the same shot so you could compare the difference in size.'The "Wildcat of Woodchester" was spotted only just a few miles away from here so I do believe it could be the same animal.
'It looked quite calm and not the snarling big cats you usually see in pictures. I haven't seen it since but I now really believe that these creatures are out there.
'I had never really heard of any big cats in Britain before I started spotting this one - now I know of loads of people that have seen it around here.'Ms Memory, who lives with son Ashley, 20, and daughter Emilie, ten, handed the footage to Mr Tunbridge, who approached wildlife filmmaker Mark Fletcher and the pair began work on a documentary about the elusive creatures.The team used imaging techniques to estimate the size of the black cat as 2ft high to the shoulder and 6ft long, including a 2ft tail.They finally decided to release the pictures yesterday - after the devastated carcasses of three roe deer and three wallabies were found nearby last month.
DNA was taken from the first deer, which was found by a dog walker on January 4 this year.
The body had all of its vital organs missing and had its snout severed - the hallmarks of a panther-like kill.
Another deer carcass was found by a dog walker between Whiteway and Redcomb, near Cirencester - ten miles away - on January 10.
A third roe deer body was found at a development in Cooper's Edge, near Gloucester, days later.Three wallabies, part of a private collection, were also found dead by their devastated owner on January 6, two days after his first kill at Woodchester Park.
But a team of scientists, lead by Dr Robin Allaby of Warwick University, failed to find any big cat DNA on the carcass
Dr Allaby, associate professor at the university's School of Life Sciences, said: 'We did not detect cat DNA on either deer carcass.'Other than deer, by far the strongest genetic signal we found on the Woodchester Park carcass was from a fox.'That fox DNA was found on the ribs, legs and plucking sites from the Woodchester deer carcass.On the second deer carcass we found canid DNA. A more detailed analysis is underway to pin down the canid species but our expectation is that that will also be fox DNA.'
If you have any news on this item please let us know by leaving a comment or email bcib@btopenworld.com Please report any sightings at http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org/localreportform.htm If you wish to comment on any of the items please click the header of the story.
- Grainy footage shows cat-like creature skulking in a field
- Experts insist it is 'conclusive' proof that big cats stalk the UK countryside
Last updated at 6:59 PM on 9th February 2012
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097638/Wildcat-Woodchester-video-Six-foot-leopard-caught-camera.html
This is the footage that big cat experts claim proves a jet black leopard is stalking the British countryside.
The grainy film shows what appears to be a 6ft-long beast slinking menacingly around a field near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
It was captured just three miles from Woodchester National Park - where earlier this year the mutilated carcass of a roe deer was found by a dog walker.
Despite the low quality of the never-before-seen footage, enthusiasts insist it is the 'conclusive' evidence that there are big cats on the prowl in the wild in Britain.
Scroll down for video of the 'Wildcat of Woodchester'
Experts say the grainy footage definitely shows a 6ft long cat
The big cat skulked around the field before darting off into the woods about three miles from where a deer was found mutilated in January
Experts say the grainy footage definitely shows a 6ft long cat
And they believe the particular animal in this footage shot by by Coryn Memory is the mysterious 'Wildcat of Woodchester', which has been spotted dozens of times in recent the years.
Big cat expert Frank Tunbridge, 65, from Gloucestershire, said: 'I think this footage is pretty much conclusive.
'It is the best footage of a big cat ever filmed in the UK - showing what we believe is a slim, young looking black leopard.
'You can tell by the size of the animal - it is huge. We think it is about 2ft tall up to the shoulder and 6ft long including the tail, which is way bigger than a domestic cat.
'It also walks just like a big cat and has an extremely long tail. There have been literally hundreds of reports of big cat sightings in this area for years. This could just be the tip of the iceberg.'
Ms Memory says that this footage was not the first time she had seen the cat, and said she had spotted it on five previous occasions.
She first spotted a large black animal crossing the field near her house in Thrupp, near Stroud, in July 2009.
It again appeared again the following evening and she searched online to try and work out what it might be.
It was then she discovered the stories about a large panther-like animal roaming the Cotswolds.
Coryn Memory, 45, captured the footage after sighting the big cat near her home on a number of occasions
The latest footage shows a similar large black animal to this one spotted in a field in north-west Wiltshire
Later that year she saw it again several times, and took some shaky photographs of the cat in the snow, as well as images of cat footprints.
The intrigued single mum then got in touch with wildlife explorer Mr Tunbridge - who loaned her a camcorder to use the next time she spotted the beast.
In July 2010 she finally caught the animal on film after spotting it skulking in a field 300 yards from her home.
Balancing the handheld camera on a pile of CDs, she managed to film if for ten minutes as the beast stalked across the grass.
It was captured running and walking, before slinking off into the undergrowth near woods, near Rodborough Common.
Mother-of-two Ms Memory who works as a teaching assistant in a special school, said: 'I was fascinated just watching it walking around the field.'I was not frightened at all - just excited to see it and finally get it on camera. It was only about 300 yards away.
'I believe he was looking for voles and mice in the short grass after it had been cut. At one stage a fox was in the same shot so you could compare the difference in size.'The "Wildcat of Woodchester" was spotted only just a few miles away from here so I do believe it could be the same animal.
Ms Memory's footage was taken not far from where a number of animals were slaughtered, apparently by a wild big cat
'It looked quite calm and not the snarling big cats you usually see in pictures. I haven't seen it since but I now really believe that these creatures are out there.
'I had never really heard of any big cats in Britain before I started spotting this one - now I know of loads of people that have seen it around here.'Ms Memory, who lives with son Ashley, 20, and daughter Emilie, ten, handed the footage to Mr Tunbridge, who approached wildlife filmmaker Mark Fletcher and the pair began work on a documentary about the elusive creatures.The team used imaging techniques to estimate the size of the black cat as 2ft high to the shoulder and 6ft long, including a 2ft tail.They finally decided to release the pictures yesterday - after the devastated carcasses of three roe deer and three wallabies were found nearby last month.
DNA was taken from the first deer, which was found by a dog walker on January 4 this year.
The body had all of its vital organs missing and had its snout severed - the hallmarks of a panther-like kill.
One of three wallabies found devoured on farmland in the Cotswolds last month. DNA tests suggested it had been devoured by a fox
The carcass of one of the deer killed last month is examined to allow experts to carry out the DNA test
Another deer carcass was found by a dog walker between Whiteway and Redcomb, near Cirencester - ten miles away - on January 10.
A third roe deer body was found at a development in Cooper's Edge, near Gloucester, days later.Three wallabies, part of a private collection, were also found dead by their devastated owner on January 6, two days after his first kill at Woodchester Park.
But a team of scientists, lead by Dr Robin Allaby of Warwick University, failed to find any big cat DNA on the carcass
Dr Allaby, associate professor at the university's School of Life Sciences, said: 'We did not detect cat DNA on either deer carcass.'Other than deer, by far the strongest genetic signal we found on the Woodchester Park carcass was from a fox.'That fox DNA was found on the ribs, legs and plucking sites from the Woodchester deer carcass.On the second deer carcass we found canid DNA. A more detailed analysis is underway to pin down the canid species but our expectation is that that will also be fox DNA.'
If you have any news on this item please let us know by leaving a comment or email bcib@btopenworld.com Please report any sightings at http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org/localreportform.htm If you wish to comment on any of the items please click the header of the story.
2 comments:
This comment got deleted unfortunately before I published it but I managed to copy it, thanks Paul
The video camera was supplied to the lady by Frank, the image does not show any such cat, only a dog. The fox at the top of the video is not even remotely frightened, again, if it were a big cat, then why is there a fox and why is the fox and even birds not flying away in fear? If it were six foot long and two foot high, then that must make it a record breaking cat! So Frank forgot to say that includes the tail measurement. However, even at two foot high, that does not make it a big cat. There are some people who say that we have “black panther” roaming free in the UK, this is wrong and untrue. Why? – Because there is and are no such animals as “black panthers”. Yes we have panthers and it is a generic name given to some species of cats such as puma/cougar, even some species of exotic cats have in part the Latin “Panthera”. The term black panther is a unknown name a pseudo name which appears because of myth and misunderstanding. There are black or melinistic leopards but they are not all black or even true black, we also have black jaguar. Also the term “big cat” is also misued and not correct. Only those cats which do not purr and lack the hyoid bone are classed as big cats. If it roars its a big cat, if it purrs it’s not. However, some species can indeed semi-roar as well as purr. Many people use the Dangerous Animals Act 1976, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Zoo Licence Act 1981 to substantiate their belief of such “big cats and that these cats breed and have been breeding or making hybrids. It is true that in the UK there has been many cases where small exotic cats have escaped or been found, some have indeed cross-bred. It is true that a couple of lynx have also been found. But this does not prove or mean that “big cats” are free and roaming free in the UK wilds, let alone breeding. Is it not strange how the sightings always take on the guise of “black, panther, big cat, bigger than my or his dog, cubs were seen, it roared, it was night time, fuzzy or out of focus pictures, poor video, policemen seeing them, etc. When someone reports that they saw something, it has a domino effect, others then say they also saw and then it gathers pace and more say they too have seen this mythical creature, or even they were attacked or their dog or pet was attacked. This is what is called a “scotopic event”. The eyes see something, not sure of what it is, the brain trys to make sense of it. The brain comes up with what is believed to be correct however, in fact it’s not. If you have 10, 20, 100 or 1 million people all saying that they saw something, then by rule of logic alone, each person should see something slighly different. The same applies to that of when people see the rainbow, each person will see a different colour and will see where it starts or ends at a different place. Light, angles, atmosphere and so on makes the image seem different to each person. No one person see the exact same as the next person. Remember, Cryptozoology is a non-science, it’s not a real or true science. Anyone can call themselves a cryptozoologist and the word means: Oxford cryptozoology • noun the search for animals whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated. There “may be” a big cat which “may be” or “may have” escaped from a collection or from a private owner. However, that does not mean that there are such felids out there, nor does that 2000 plus sightings mean that these cats exist or are there or anywhere. By applying common sense and the rule of Occam’s Razor which says : “from among competing hypotheses, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions usually provides the correct one, and that the simplest explanation will be the most plausible until evidence is presented to prove it false.” In the case of the Stroud sightings and the Sun’s coverage, also that Frank Tunbridge is no “expert”. The simplist reasons applies…it was a dog!
These are actually picky points that is not really worth commenting on; but yes,that was no big cat in the video the measurements were wrong. Black panther is a generic term for a large black cat, jaguar or leopard for example, I would not get too hung up on that, same as we know that black pumas do not exist. This my friend is just loosing your way in byroads that lead to confusion. There is no proof that large cats do breed in the UK, and most of the sightings that come in are mistakes, we know this of the dog prints that accompany them, and the domestic cat pictures. Although thank god enlightened people do not use Occums razor or scientific growth would have been stunted a long time ago. One thing though are you in all seriousness saying that the term panther cannot denote a black leopard, and you are using the Americanism for the panther term in regrards to the cougar. Fact is evidence has been found in the past, it does not prove a breeding population, just that a large cat whether escaped released, or naive, was present at one time. Unfortunately complete dismissal of the subject doesn't help, this is ongoing, always has been and always will be. Constructive research helps, complete dismissal will be ignored - and so will the theory on all cases such as scotopic events - no doubt they do occur but not on every occasion, and this my friend is were you are missing the whole point
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