“It was rolling on the compost heap, where I rake up deer droppings,” said a groundsman, describing the giant black cat he confronted in the grounds of a care home in south-west England, back in 2012. “It jumped the fence and went like a rocket across the next field.”
A month later, the remains of a half-eaten roe deer appeared overnight, behind a hedge but closer to the property. It showed the predator’s canine impacts, sunk into the windpipe area, 4cm apart. For the next few weeks, staff on the night shift parked as close as they could to the entrance door. No one gossiped about their secret feline visitor. I was asked informally for advice, and also knew to keep it quiet.
Something lurks in the shadows of our rural idyll. Similar incidents play out in farms, stables, rural estates, golf courses, utility holdings, landfill sites and even nature reserves across the country. Large cats, mainly resembling black leopards (also known as panthers), but also sometimes mountain lions, and, very occasionally, lynx, are reported across such locations.
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Of the 40 species of wild cat, these three are consistently described, year on year. But witnesses usually keep their heads down, keen to avoid a commotion or perhaps fearful of social ridicule. After all, if you claim to have seen a big cat in Britain, few people are likely to believe you.
On five occasions now, perfect footage of encounters has been shown or described to me in detail, captured on phone cameras, trail cameras and CCTV. Yet not even offers of cash would persuade these informants to part with their evidence. Privacy, shooting rights and business status are simply too much to lose.
I became immersed in the possibility of big cats being present in Britain 24 years ago, after seeing what I’m convinced was a black leopard in Cumbria. It was walking side-on to me across rough pasture, about 70m away. I assumed it was a labrador, but then noticed no collar and no owners in sight. Its purposeful strides, low and long-bodied form, tubular tail and fluid movement were completely unlike a dog.
Since then, I’ve spoken to some 1,500 fellow witnesses. I meet them at my talks, at an information stand I take to rural shows, and through my podcast, Big Cat Conversations. After appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Ramblings with Clare Balding – who has also seen what she thinks was a British black leopard – I received 40 emails from listeners, keen to describe their own encounters. People offload their big cat story when they find the right context.
On the podcast, I hear people’s conviction, with full-on testimonies of big cats perfectly at ease in the British landscape. They are seen racing into flocks of geese, warming themselves in the morning sun and fleeing out of barns when disturbed. Mothers are even seen guiding cubs.
Growing reports
The suspected sightings are far and wide across the country. In Essex, a fisherman was hissed at by a black leopard (he noticed its rosettes) at 5am as he disturbed it cornering a muntjac deer. In Somerset, a dog walker watched a black leopard take down a roe deer in the adjacent field – she located the dragged and neatly eaten carcass three days later, when she felt safe to return. In Dorset, a woman watched a black leopard effortlessly descend a tree after targeting a squirrel’s drey 12m up.
Snippets of footage from the last two events are on the Big Cat Conversations website, but otherwise footage is rare, or just a pixelated blur. Many people assume at first that the animal is a dog, so don’t reach for their phone. Some are too wary to film a close-up predator; others have to focus on controlling and leashing their dog. Around 30 per cent of cases involve witnesses with a dog or horse. Often, the animal is the first to react, becoming spooked or nervous, and alerting its owner.
The reports are consistent in all regions. Year on year, around 80 per cent of animals sighted resemble black leopards – sleek, with extra-long tails (a mating pair of black or melanistic leopards will produce all-black litters). There are no reports of shorter-tailed, more thick-set cats, so black jaguars don’t fit the bill. Tan-coloured cats are also seen in around 15 per cent of cases, matching the description of a mountain lion (also known as a puma or cougar), and around 5 per cent fit the description of the Eurasian lynx, our former native larger cat.
Witnesses mostly describe fit, muscular, confident cats. In rare instances, depigmentation in a black leopard is described, such as a white blaze or the ‘cobweb’ morph, but otherwise, the animals show no struggle with inbreeding.
The introduction of big cats
So how did these cats spill into our landscapes? Quite simply, they were put here. They are likely the result of dumped pets and guard animals, released collections, discarded military mascots, illegally traded wildlife, and leakage from run-down, homespun zoos. While various big cats have always been collected, the mystique of the black leopard has an enduring appeal, making it a particularly popular choice to keep in captivity.
A first wave of releases may have occurred during wartime. Cats are strict carnivores, so meat supply would be a challenge during times of rationing. Over several decades, there may have been further release events at different times and places, all helping the gene flow.
Leopards, pumas and lynx occupy a similar niche. They like edge habitat, woodland and scrub – they play an ecosystem role as deer killers and can sweep up smaller prey such as rabbits, hares and pigeons. They are generalists, highly adaptable and extremely stealthy, staying out of sight and avoiding humans. They occupy a range of environments, temperatures and altitudes in their native lands. With a ready menu and a moderate climate, Britain offers a stress-free situation. Our winters are much gentler than the harsh temperatures and deep snow that mountain lions experience in North America, for example.
One of my podcast guests was a precision engineer by trade. He had a brush with a big black cat one evening, when his dog disturbed it eating a rabbit. Like many informants, he admired and respected the cat after reflecting on the scary situation. “Black leopards are precision engineered for a British wood,” he said.
The idea that big cats are living in the UK might seem far-fetched, even romantic. It’s perfectly natural to react with scepticism. Though any serious investigator will carefully scrutinise each report, analysis is currently uneven, and I am advocating for a consistent classification system to be used by all investigators. The system that currently exists, and that I use, ranks sightings from A+ (‘Definitive Close Encounter’) to E (‘Uncertain’), taking into account factors such as scale, behaviour and form. Only two per cent of British big cat encounters fall into the A+ category.
DNA evidence
We must also look at the scientific evidence. Positive DNA results proving the presence of big cats in Britain are limited, yet do exist. There are six publicly known positive DNA results that match the leopard (Panthera pardus), two from recent years: from Gloucestershire in 2022, from a hair snagged on a barbed-wire fence in the vicinity of a sheep kill; and from Cumbria in 2023, when DNA was found on a carcass – again, of a sheep.
The lab that tested the 2022 sample wished to remain anonymous; the second was tested by professor Robin Allaby of the University of Warwick, who set up a testing service 12 years ago. He has tested numerous samples since, with limited success (perhaps partly due to the challenges of swabbing for big-cat saliva, which degrades quickly). His testing has been facilitated by the claw of a shot-and-stuffed black leopard, which provided a DNA sequence for cross reference. The few previous positive leopard sample sequences, verified elsewhere, have also been banked with him.
DNA can tell us more than leopards simply being present in the UK; it could indicate their provenance. Are these cats just an assortment of vagrants, or are they from a common source? Is there now a British strain of them? But getting to this point will be a challenge. “We need to establish multiple samples at genomic or subgenomic level that show relatedness between individuals, and that point to a living population,” says Allaby.
Toothmarks on bones are another way to scientifically verify if the assailant was a big cat. The technique, known as ‘tooth pit analysis’, is carried out at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, and concentrates on small notch-marks or ‘pits’, made by the cusps of teeth. These can indent the bones of prey species when a predator is at work.
“By measuring the length, breadth and spacing of the pits we can make judgements on the predators involved,” explains associate professor Andrew Hemmings. “Of particular interest to us are the indentations from molars and pre-molars. These distinguish marks left by large carnivores such as domestic dogs from those created by big cats.”
In recent years, scores of bones, mainly from deer, have been provided to Hemmings, many bearing tooth pits. To date, four samples fall into the range expected for imprints from a leopard or puma-sized cat.
“There must be more clues”
As well as science, we can look to other forms of evidence, such as tracks and signs. Mark Graves, now based in Britain after 18 years as an elite wildlife guide in South Africa, is confident about the evidence shown to him. “I’ve seen several prints and casts that match large cats, like the leopard, from different parts of Britain. A trail camera recently recorded a leopard in Devon ‘sawing’ [making a raspy call to establish a territory or find a mate],” he says. “Some of the carcasses are compelling, too – freshly filleted deer remains compare well to how leopards leave impala prey in South Africa.”
Graves is frustrated that more systematic searching isn’t happening. “Too often it’s just a single sign, like a footprint, that’s found, when there must be more clues. But the logistics of tracking are difficult – trails may go onto private land, for example. With more dedicated funds, trust from landowners, and techniques like employing scat-detection dogs, I’ve no doubt we’d make more progress,” he says.
We know the black leopard as Bagheera from The Jungle Book. Their main natural refuges are the Malay Peninsula, where people call them panthers, and to some extent, Java. Their numbers are in serious decline due to various pressures, including poaching. Are these Asian leopard locations the main source of what people experience in the woods and valleys of Britain?
Whether you are a believer or a sceptic, the topic of big cats in Britain is steadily growing in interest, and there are more snippets of hard evidence. British universities are supporting studies, and some wildlife specialists are cautiously helping investigation efforts. With concerted effort, maybe more discoveries await.
Main image: Illustration by Daniel Long
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