Its all true. I had a panther follow me whilst cycling home from a nightshift at the photolab at 4am one winter morning when I was a teen.

Also, I almost got eaten by a Komodo Dragon which must have been living wild on the banks of the Ord river in Kunurrura - was with a mate going swimming past the reeds at the end of a mile long track hidden by longrass. Shat myself as my brain told me it must be a salt water crocodile or a monitor but my eyes new it was neither...really didn't know what to do and froze...I still remember seeing its tongue tasting my fear....I think that is what confused me so much, that and the fact its forearms were as thick as my legs....true horror film stuff..lol! Turned out I researched that a wildlife place went bankrupt in the late 70's further down the Ord river in Wyndham. Very dodgy! Bloody things originated in Australia anyway!

Same thing here I reckon...still a legacy from the 70's when people had lions and tigers for domestic pets. Either that or zoo escapes.

Wallabies in the peak district...Boa constrictors in the Florida everglades..animals are a lot more resilient and a lot more secretive, especially if they are afraid of humans, than we give them credit for.

Haven't seen a Yeti yet though! Look forward to that one.

Pam Moore wrote:

Sightings of a big cat reported on local ITV news tonight: Bristol
area;
http://www.itv.com/westcountry-east/...ightings51259/


Pam in Bristol
There have been reports of big cats in the area of Bodmin Moor in
Cornwall for the past 1 0 years or so. Never proffed, but on the other
hand too numerous to be dismissed out of hand.

Peter
--
He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I
could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far
from being gruntled.
P.G. Wodehouse 1881 -1975

On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:07:37 +0100, (Peter
James) wrote:

Pam Moore wrote:

Sightings of a big cat reported on local ITV news tonight: Bristol
area;
http://www.itv.com/westcountry-east/...ightings51259/


Pam in Bristol
There have been reports of big cats in the area of Bodmin Moor in
Cornwall for the past 1 0 years or so. Never proffed, but on the other
hand too numerous to be dismissed out of hand.

Peter

As I think the report stated!

Pam in Bristol

In article ,
Janet wrote:
In article 32d678f7-ea30-4130-9b69-
,
says...

So if a giant Black Cat crosses your path does that mean more luck
than with a normal black cat crossing your path?

Yep; time to buy a lottery ticket :-)

If a black panther crosses my path while walking in the UK, I will
buy my first National Fleecery ticket. You may start holding your
breath for this momentous event.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Christina Websell
writes

"Martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:21:38 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...


"Christina Websell" wrote
"Bill Grey" wrote in message
"Pam Moore" wrote
Sightings of a big cat reported on local ITV news tonight: Bristol
area;
http://www.itv.com/westcountry-east/...ightings51259/


I wish I could see this in South Wales - the programme that is!


I was able to view this from Pam's link even though my ITV channel is
Central. It did take a while to load though, and there were 4 or more
adverts to sit through first. It was a nearly 5 minute long news
interview, interesting.

What I find interesting is they are just beginning to take these
sightings
slightly seriously. Always before there has been another agenda in the
background, to make the person seeing the cat(?) look silly and have a
laugh at their expense. I wonder how many sightings there actually have
been that have gone unreported for that reason.



I cannot see any reason why big cats that were probably released when it
became illegal to keep them without a license cannot survive in the depths
of the countryside, where they can get food and water and hardly ever be
seen.

I take these sightings seriously.
My friend saw a huge black cat run across the road in front of her car
once.
She is sensible, does not drink at all and I do not doubt her. She
described it as "as big as a leopard"
Never seen since.

The huge black cat of Whitby turned out to be a Labrador.


This does not mean that sightings of big cats are not true.

It is impossible to prove a negative.

My friend has judged at Crufts - she'd know if it was a dog of any sort.


From my experience having judged at Crufts is not necessarily any
endorsement for being able to recognise a dog.
--
hugh
"Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, Or who said it, Even if
I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason And your own
common sense." Buddha

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:21:38 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...


"Christina Websell" wrote
"Bill Grey" wrote in message
"Pam Moore" wrote
Sightings of a big cat reported on local ITV news tonight: Bristol
area;
http://www.itv.com/westcountry-east/...ightings51259/


I wish I could see this in South Wales - the programme that is!


I was able to view this from Pam's link even though my ITV channel is
Central. It did take a while to load though, and there were 4 or more
adverts to sit through first. It was a nearly 5 minute long news
interview, interesting.

What I find interesting is they are just beginning to take these
sightings
slightly seriously. Always before there has been another agenda in the
background, to make the person seeing the cat(?) look silly and have a
laugh at their expense. I wonder how many sightings there actually have
been that have gone unreported for that reason.



I cannot see any reason why big cats that were probably released when it
became illegal to keep them without a license cannot survive in the
depths
of the countryside, where they can get food and water and hardly ever be
seen.

I take these sightings seriously.
My friend saw a huge black cat run across the road in front of her car
once.
She is sensible, does not drink at all and I do not doubt her. She
described it as "as big as a leopard"
Never seen since.

The huge black cat of Whitby turned out to be a Labrador.


This does not mean that sightings of big cats are not true.
My friend has judged at Crufts - she'd know if it was a dog of any sort.


My labrador was entered at Crufts, an I sometimes think the judges look at
the wrong end of the lead!

Bill

On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:08:49 +0100, hugh ] wrote:


I take these sightings seriously.
My friend saw a huge black cat run across the road in front of her car
once.
She is sensible, does not drink at all and I do not doubt her. She
described it as "as big as a leopard"
Never seen since.

The huge black cat of Whitby turned out to be a Labrador.


This does not mean that sightings of big cats are not true.

It is impossible to prove a negative.

My friend has judged at Crufts - she'd know if it was a dog of any sort.


From my experience having judged at Crufts is not necessarily any
endorsement for being able to recognise a dog.

Certainly not an endorsement of their ability to recognise a normally-
-configured dog.

--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

"Martin" wrote in message
...

Is it a ratzilla?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...odents-UK.html
--


IME people who are not used to seeing rats around always over-estimate their
size when they've seen a glimpse of one.
As a poultry keeper I have an ongoing battle with them. I use terrier men
every month or two to come here and smoke them out with the dogs waiting.
The biggest one we ever got weighed just over a pound.
I used to use poison. Not any more - my tawny owls disappeared for one
thing, and poison takes a while to work, seeing dying rats in extremis
changed my mind about the method to use.
The terrier way, I believe, is kinder because the rats are either caught and
gone literally in a second or they get away to maybe be caught next time.

These are not ordinary pet terriers, btw, the terrier men like to hunt with
them and that's what they are for. Patterdales & working-bred Lakelands
make short shrift of my rats. Even if a big one hangs on to their nose and
makes them yelp, it's a gonner.
It costs me nothing except tea & biscuits

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:23:11 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Martin" wrote in message
. ..

Is it a ratzilla?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...odents-UK.html
--


IME people who are not used to seeing rats around always over-estimate
their
size when they've seen a glimpse of one.

The one in the photo looks big )

It is not a photo of the rat that they saw.
This photo is from another country, where there are indeed very big rats.
Here, in the UK, we have rats that can seem huge, if you are not used to
them (as I said) but realistically they are not.
I've learned a lot about rats since I had poultry.
If one lives for some time it will get up to and slightly above 1lb in
weight, they are the males.
I have a cat. He is fine with dispatching the young ones, but the moment he
sees one of these 1lb+ ones with their big brown chisel teeth, he needs to
pretend he hasn't seen it by washing himself as it walks past.
i don't blame him. Those big ones give the terriers a run for their money.

I've come across several recent references to the Peak District wallabies, but they died out about 10 years ago. There is a more persistent colony of wallabies on an island in Loch Lomond, conditions which can perhaps be compared to a zoo enclosure. About 5 years ago the govt estimated the UK population of red-necked wallabies to be 29, of which 28 were on the island in Loch Lomond, and the other was a fairly recent escape somewhere like Bedfordshire. I think more recently there have been a handful escaped somewhere down in the west country.

I can see very good reasons why they can't survive very well. I gave them in the other thread, but I'll repeat it for your benefit.

Large cats are predators, and need to be taught how to be successful predators in the wild by parental care. Released big cats come from a mix of captive-bred and animals caught in infancy, and have not had to look after themselves recently.

If you don't understand how serious this is for an animals survival chances, consider the case of bats. If you catch a bat and feed it, it becomes unsuitable to be returned to the wild, as after about a fortnight it becomes accustomed to being fed and can no longer survive in the wild.

Have you not seen the television programmes which show how marginal a large predatory cat's existence is, even those living on the game-filled plains of Africa and brought up to look after themselves?

It really is most implausible to think that previously captive large cats can fend for themselves for very long in the British countryside.

In message , Christina Websell
writes
IME people who are not used to seeing rats around always over-estimate their
size when they've seen a glimpse of one.
Likewise when people are startled when out at night.
No-one of course will then admit to being scared by a pussy cat
--
hugh
"Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, Or who said it, Even if
I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason And your own
common sense." Buddha

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...


My labrador was entered at Crufts, an I sometimes think the judges look
at the wrong end of the lead!

Bill

Unfortunately, I have to agree that this does happen sometimes. *If* the
judge is not ethical and an exhibitor will soon be a judge at another
championship show where they will be entering their own dog. My friend does
not do that.
Neither do I. I used to judge and gave best of breed to a dog that was
winning a lot and had a big fault, purely because she was the best of a bad
bunch.
I was horrified to find that when I entered my own dog when this person was
judging some time later, I won my class and the report she sent to the dog
newspapers - the dog's critique - was *identical* to the one I'd sent in for
her dog, except of course she changed "her" to "him"
How blatant is that to say, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours?
I was appalled.
I lost any respect for her immediately.
Fortunately, although it is commonly believed that the dog show scene is
fixed, most judges will put the best dog first, regardless of who is at the
other end of the lead. Those that do not give it a bad name.

Tina

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...


From my experience having judged at Crufts

Wow! You did? Fantastic! What breeds did you judge? It is really a
lifetime achievement to do that.


is not necessarily any endorsement for being able to recognise a dog.

I can assure you that anyone who is invited to judge at Crufts knows the
difference between the gait of a cat and a dog that runs across the road in
front of their car.
I don't understand your hostility, is it a perceived class thing?

"®óñ© © ²°¹°" wrote in message
...

Certainly not an endorsement of their ability to recognise a normally-
-configured dog.


What, in your opinion, is a normally configured dog?
Tina