'Big cats' caught on camera prowling forest

TWO "big cats" were caught on camera by rangers carrying out a deer survey, the Forestry Commission revealed yesterday.

Under a Freedom of Information Act request, the government agency confirmed two "reliable" sightings of large cats had taken place in the past seven years.

Experts monitoring deer using thermal imaging cameras spotted the animals on separate occasions in different parts of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Commission spokesman Stuart Burgess said the sightings had been confirmed by "very experienced" rangers.

He said: "Both were observed in low light, using heat-activated vision equipment while they were carrying out a deer census. The colour of the animals couldn't be made out, but 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."

The first sighting was in February 2002 and the second in March 2005. Deputy surveyor Rob Guest, who was present at both, said his team were "interested, excited, and surprised" when the unmistakable thermal images appeared in the gloom.

It was the clear shape of the animals' long tails that told Mr Guest's crew they were not dealing with a deer, he said.

He said: "The images showed up white on the thermal imaging equipment which registers body heat. You basically get a white image upon a black background. It was clear enough so that the tail was very, very obvious. It was more than a deer.

"I couldn't tell you how big they were or what they were. They were just large, full cats.

"At that time, going back five years, there were lots of sightings and rumours. At the second sighting in 2005, there were a lot of rabbits living in that particular area, and studies have shown that, when cats go wild, rabbits are a major source of their food."

One theory was that people had kept them and then released them after stricter laws came into effect, he said.

Mr Guest, 58, who has worked for the Forestry Commission for 18 years, said these were the only two wild big cats he had seen in his career.

"It may just have been one or two ranging over huge distances. The forest is fairly wild country anyway, so that may be the reason they were there."

The deer surveys, which take place every three years, are carried out all night for three or four weeks.

Mr Guest said the information had not been deliberately kept from the public and the animals were not considered a risk.

He said: "We just didn't think to publicise them really. We had no real fear of anything from them. We weren't keeping anything secret from the public."

Gloucestershire police also suspect there are pairs of big cats living in the Forest of Dean and around Cirencester and say they "take sightings seriously".

The force's wildlife and environmental crime officer, Mark Robson, said: "I have been looking at big cat sightings since 2002 and believe the two examples to be credible sightings.

"Gloucestershire Constabulary gets around 100 sightings a year from members of the public. Most of these are at some distance, it's very rare to have a close encounter."

The sightings are among several in the Forest this decade.

In November 2006, schoolboys Joe Tingle and Chay Maidment ran in terror after a big "green-eyed" animal came towards them through undergrowth near Ruspidge.

In March, a big cat was seen by a dog walker who believed he had met a leopard.

A survey by the British Big Cats Society showed more than 2,000 suspected big cat sightings were reported nationwide between 2004 and 2005.

Most sightings are attributed to panthers, with a handful put down to their smaller cousins the lynx, once native in this country.

Their freedom in the wild is attributed to a range of sources from escaped zoo and circus animals to a mass release in the 1970s after the enforcement of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act.


BACKGROUND

ACCORDING to Big Cats in Britain, the area in Scotland with the most sightings of large cats is Grampian, with 55 between 2000 and 2006, while Fife had 42. Both areas have relatively dry climates and wooded patches, making them ideal habitats. Lothian had 30 sightings and Strathclyde 27.

Most parts of the country have their stories of a "beast" being seen roaming wild. Last month, a large black cat was reported on a beach in Banff.

In November, there was a reported sighting of a wild cat near the A75 at Carsluith in Galloway. Also that month, the infamous Beast of Balbirnie in Fife – which is said to be a black leopard – was spotted again.

A woman reported seeing a leopard-like cat at Cruden Bay, near Peterhead, in October in the area renowned for sightings of the Beast of Buchan.

An animal resembling a panther was also reported in Monklands in September.